My Wings Are My Dream
by AsianWriter17
Summary: It's the start of Sora Naegino's journey and adventure at Kaleido Stage, here she will meet new friends and face challenges that will push her skills to the limit. Close friendships Sora/OC/Layla, Implied OC/Yuri
1. Chapter 1

*I do not own any of the Kaleido Star characters just my own, also I'll be adding my own little things that wasn't in the anime so I hope you enjoy!*

Chapter 1

It happened to be a bright sunny day at Cape Merry, there at the world famous Kaleido Stage they were holding auditions for new performers. Inside the auditioning room, a woman by the name of Jennifer Harrington was sitting with her best friend Layla Hamilton in the audience, observing the performers. Right now they had finished watching the last audition and had chosen the people who will join Kaleido Stage. "When will this be over with? I always hate attending auditions they're practically get boring within the first few minutes." sighed Jennifer, Layla touched her shoulder "Don't worry it's getting close to being finished just wait a bit longer my best friend." while the stage manager Ken Robbins was talking to the auditioners, everyone heard a knock on the door. They all looked to see a girl with magenta hair enter giving a sigh of relief "Oh thank god I'm here!" "Uh…and you are?" asked Ken "Uh…My name is Sora Naegino sir, I apologize for my tardiness." "Oh I'm sorry Miss but the auditions are already done with." "Huh? But I came all the way from Japan just to be in these auditions!" "Huh? Well perhaps we have time for just one more performance." "Oh thank you so much! You won't regret it this-" "No." interrupted Layla who stood up "Oh Miss Layla…" said Ken, the blonde looked at Sora "The auditions are over." "Ah! But wait! There's a reason why I'm late!" "Don't you know that a stage production always start on time?" "But I…" "Go back home." "Geez always rough to the newcomers…Why don't you give her a chance Layla? I'm pretty she has something in store for us." said Jennifer who stood up and turned towards Sora smiling a bit. Sora happened to be surprised once she saw her "That's…Miss Jennifer Harrington…I can't believe I'm seeing my two favorite idols in one day!" thought the Japanese girl, Layla started walking away "Like I said before Jennifer the auditions are over, the girl needs to go home now lets go." the black hair woman simply shrugged her shoulders "Fine whatever." she began following Layla out of the room along with some of the workers of Kaleido Stage.

Later as Kaleido Stage's current show; Romeo and Juliet was showing, backstage Jennifer was in her costume watching the show waiting for her part to come. "Enjoying yourself?" asked a voice, Jennifer looked to see her side to see a blonde man who goes by the name of Yuri Killian approach her wearing his Romeo costume "Oh Yuri…" "Something bothering you?" "No not really…" "I heard what happened at the end of the auditions." "Kind of figured you would…Though I wish Layla could have given that girl a chance…I mean she came all the way from Japan, she looked like a sweet girl too…" "Did this girl have magenta hair?" "Yes she did why?" "I believe I saw her backstage just before the production started Ken was most likely showing her around." "Oh…How sweet of Ken…" Jennifer then looked back as she heard crying and found a female performer sitting on the floor crying while gripping her left arm. Jennifer then spotted Sora kneeling by the girl's side, looking a bit panic and tried apologizing to the girl who just yelled at her. She sighed and made her way over to the commotion "What in the world is going on here?" the female performer continued to cry while pointing at Sora "That girl twisted my arm! I'll never forgive her for this!" noticing the rope around the girl's arm made Jennifer sigh once more and place her hands on her hips "How many times do we have to tell you to not touch the sets because they're dangerous?" "But Ms. Harrington she's the one that's dangerous! I can't go onstage like this!" "Enough of your crying! It's starting to give me a headache! Honestly a performer shouldn't be acting this way!" Ken sighed too and contacted a stage tech through his headset "This isn't good…There's a problem we need a new trampoline cast member right away!" "There's no need for that." everyone looked to find a man wearing shorts and a maroon shirt along with sunglasses, making their way over to them. "Hey! What is that creep doing here?" demanded Sora "The boss…" answered Ken only to have the Japanese girl stare at him in shock "The boss?" "And just what are you planning to do Karlos? The next scene is coming up soon." questioned Jennifer "She will fill the role for now." answered Karlos, thus making everyone look at him and Sora in disbelief while Jennifer chuckled a bit "Well now…I wasn't expecting that at all."

2 minutes later out in the front lobby were Ken and Jennifer confronting Karlos on his recent decision. "Excuse me for asking sir but…What are you thinking? There's no way an amateur could just jump into a show cold!" told Ken "Is that what Layla said?" questioned Karlos "Well…No…" "Then you need not concern yourself with this matter." "But Karlos I kind of agree with Ken…Do you really believe that this girl-" "Sora." "Right…Sora could actually perform well in the show right off the bat?" "We just have to wait and see Jennifer, now go your scene is coming up soon." "Right…" and she made her way backstage to wait for the upcoming scene. While she waited Jennifer soon heard the voice of Layla from behind "You!" she turned around to find her best friend confronting Sora who now wore a bunny costume "You're the girl who was late for the audition. Why are you here?" Jennifer quickly made her way over and stood by Sora's side "She's going to be appearing in the trampoline act with me and the others Layla." "Hmph…I want her to take off that costume. The stage is not so easy for some amateur that can just hop on." "Layla I wouldn't do that if I were you." she ignored her best friend's warning and glared at Sora "Didn't you hear me?" "No, I didn't!" her answer happened to surprise everyone who was there watching. "Please let me do this Ms. Layla to show you I can do this right!" told Sora, soon Karlos showed up backstage "And besides I'm the one who told her to do the show." Layla looked at him a bit in shock "Karlos!" the Kaleido Stage boss just ignored her and turned to Sora "Now go!" Jennifer grabbed her hand and began leading her away "You heard the boss now let's move girlie!"

Out onstage the whole setting changed into a forest and a huge trampoline set appeared with Jennifer, Sora and the other performers on it. Though as Jennifer and the other performers started their trampoline routine, right off the bat Sora immediately messed up having the audience laugh at her. "Oh…Well this is not going good." thought Jennifer as she watched Sora from the corner of her eye, all of a sudden she noticed a change in Sora who began doing the routine "Well now…That's was pretty quick…This girl is something else…" Jennifer's eyes then widen in surprise as she watched Sora began falling towards the ground "No! She must've timed her jump wrong, instead of hitting the trampoline she's heading straight towards the ground!" Soon a movement from the corner caught Jennifer's attention and thus made her sigh in relief as she watched Yuri catch Sora and landed right next to her along with the other performers. The audience cheered once the scene was over and the performers made their way backstage, Jennifer passed by Yuri and patted him on the back "Nice catch Yuri." "Why thank you Jennifer." Once she reached backstage, she again found Layla confronting Sora who's with Ken "Don't compliment her! How dare you make the mockery of the stage just before my act?" the Japanese girl bowed her head in shame "I-I'm sorry…I just wanted to be part of the Kaleido Stage so badly…" "Oh and that's reason enough for our audience to be subjected to such a disgraceful performance? You're a naïve little girl, don't you understand that by now?" "Yeah…" "There's no place for you here." tears came to Sora's eyes and soon began falling down here face, though Layla chose to ignore it "I think you should go now." with that Sora dashed off crying, Ken tried to go after her but Layla stopped him "Let her go." Jennifer frowned at this and approached her friend "You know Layla…You need to learn how not to be so cruel to people, it sickens me to be near you right now." "Jennifer!" she simply scoff and brush pass Layla who stared after her friend feeling a bit shocked at what just happened.

Later as the show was over and done with Jennifer had already changed out of her costume and began leaving her dressing room when Karlos approached her "Jennifer…Can I talk to you for a minute?" "Sure Karlos." "About Sora…You happened to sense something about her didn't you?" "Now how did you guess that?" "I took notice of how you acted around her…You were a bit more excited and happier than usual." she chuckled and crossed her arms over her chest "I suppose you're right about that…Unfortunately Layla made the sweet girl cry and run off." "Did she now?" "Yes." "Jennifer…I want you to go after Sora and stop her, tell her she can stay and that she also passed." "Well now…It'll be my pleasure." she started to make her leave when Karlos stopped her "Before you go…I have one more question to ask you Jennifer…" "Ask away." "Do you believe that one day the audience will come here just to see Sora and not Layla or you?" "Oddly enough…I do…The girl looks like she has the potential to become a big star here." "I see…" "Now if you'll excuse me Karlos I've got a upcoming star to catch!" Karlos smiled a bit as he watched Jennifer jog off to find the sweet Japanese girl.

Out in front of Kaleido Stage Jennifer had just came out of the building, panting a bit. She looked around until she spotted Sora's figure at the front gate, slowly making her leave with her luggage in hand "Ah! There she is!" Jennifer quickly began running towards to the Japanese girl and while the performer ran, she called out her name "Sora! Hey Sora!" hearing her call, Sora stopped in her tracks and turned around "Huh?" "Hey wait up girlie! You don't have to go back home!" soon Jennifer reached Sora who stared at her in surprise "M-Miss Jennifer! What are you doing out here?" "Karlos sent me…The boss said you don't have to go back home since you passed." "I-I did? Is it true?" "Yes that's what Karlos told me." "But…Miss Jennifer are you sure?" she gave Sora a small smile and ruffled her hair "Of course I'm sure girlie! Have some confidence in yourself besides I'm glad we don't have to say good bye." "R-Really you're glad?" "Yeah you seem like a pretty interesting girl so I want to get to know you more!" "W-Wow! I'm so happy to hear that!" "Sora!" the girls looked to find a police officer standing a few feet away by a truck, smiling and waving. "Mr. Police man!" exclaimed Sora who ran over to the man and tackled him in a hug, Jennifer chuckled a bit as she saw this and thought "Well now…It looks like an exciting adventure is about to unfold for Sora…And I can't wait to see what happens…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Later Ken showed up and escorted Sora to the dormitory in order to show her where she'll be staying. Once the two had left Jennifer also made her way over to the dormitory and visit the dorm supervisor: Sarah Dupont. She stood outside the supervisor's room and knocked upon the door "Sarah? You there? It's me Jennifer." not hearing an answer from inside she opened the door to find it unlocked "Huh…That's strange…" once fully opening it Jennifer immediately ducked as Sarah flew right over her doing a karate kick. The Harrington turned around to find her friend on the ground and made her way over "Practicing your karate moves again Sarah?" "Why hello there Jennifer! And yes I am I must say your reflexes are still good, for a moment there I thought I was going to hit you but I'm glad I didn't." "Come on let's move this conversation inside your room besides you can continue your practicing in there." "All right!" the two women then made their way inside the room and once the door was closed, Jennifer plopped down on the couch while Sarah continued on with your practice. "So what brings you to my room at this hour? You're usually gone by then." said Sarah "I really didn't feel like going back to my apartment, anyway I wanted to visit you and just talk." "Just hold on for a second Jennifer, I'm gonna try to do my kick again." "Again? You can't be serious Sarah." "Hush now, I'm trying to concentrate."

Just as Sarah was about to do a kick to the punching bag she so happens to have in her room, Jennifer heard a knock on the door followed by a voice "Excuse me…Dorm supervisor? Can I come in? Could you please um…" she looked towards the door to see it slowly open, followed by Sarah flying pass her doing another kick obviously missing the punching bag and zooming out the door, missing the person outside. Jennifer winced as she heard Sarah land with a loud grunt before quickly getting up and heading outside "Sarah are you all right?" she groaned a bit as she sat up and looked straight at the person who was bending backwards by her door "What's this?" Jennifer followed her friend's gaze to find the person who is bending backwards happened to be Sora "Oh Sora!" "M-Miss Jennifer! Umm…I'm sorry for what I did just now…" Sarah quickly crawled over to Sora and got up close to her face "Teach me that move you just did." "Uh…What this?" "Yes! I want you to teach me this trick right now!" Sarah ultimately had Sora go into her room while she was still bending backwards, Jennifer playfully rolled her eyes and sigh before following the two back into the room, closing the door behind.

Not long after that Sora sat on the couch with Sarah and Jennifer and explained to them what brought her to the room. "Oh! I didn't know you were a new student." said Sarah "Yes my name is Sora Naegino." "Well…Sorry for what I did out in the hall but you should never open the door in the middle of my karate practice!" "Sorry dorm supervisor I-" "By the way I'm Sarah." Sora looked at her a bit in shock "What? Sarah; diva of Kaleido Stage?" "That's right!" the Japanese girl's reaction happened to make Jennifer smile a bit before continuing to sip her tea that Sarah made for her. Just as the diva of Kaleido Stage bit into her biscuit, she looked at Sora and said "Hey you're Japanese aren't you?" "Uh…Umm…Yes?" "I'm into karate at the moment, can you be my sparing partner? Everyone in Japan has a black belt right? Oh! And teach me that trick you did too!" as Sarah continued to chat with Sora, Jennifer quietly chuckled under her breath finding the scene a bit funny before returning to her tea.

10 minutes later both Sora and Jennifer left out of Sarah's room just as the Japanese girl closed the door, she tiredly sighed a bit "I never knew Miss Sarah was so well…Unique…" "Well that's Sarah for you." "Umm…If you don't mind me asking Miss Jennifer…But what were you doing at Miss Sarah's?" "Please call me Jennifer, Sora and the reason why I was at Sarah's is that I was visiting her and just simply chat." "Oh…I'm so sorry that I interrupt." "Nonsense you didn't interrupt anything." "Are you sure?" "Sure I'm sure! By the way…Why did you come by Sarah's in the first place? Was there something you needed to ask?" "Oh! Well umm…It's nothing…Besides I'm pretty sure I can handle it myself." "You sure?" "Yeah! But thanks for asking!" "All right then…Well then I'm heading back to my apartment, see you later Sora." "Oh! Good bye Jennifer take care!" Harrington turned the other way and began walking off with the Japanese girl watching her in admiration.

Little did the girls knew two performers that go by the names of Charlotte and Julie happened to be watching them. "That's her right? The one that got in good with the boss and cheated her way in?" questioned Charlotte "She was late to the audition and still passed it…That makes me so mad!" admitted Julie soon two more girls showed up and their names happen to go by Mia Guillem and Anna Heart. "So she got in good with the boss and joined the troupe?" questioned Anna "I heard she even sweet talked her way onto the stage already and just right now we saw her talking to Miss Harrington, I think she's trying to get on her good side." told Charlotte "That's unforgivable!" Mia crossed her arms over her chest and huffed a bit in anger "I had to try 3 times before getting accepted to the Kaleido Stage!" Anna chuckled a bit at this and turned to Mia "Ha, ha so the third time is a charm huh?" "No!" "Uh…I mean…" "You mean?" "U-Uh…Better late than never?" "Yeah…Thanks…" this cause Anna to hit the wall in frustration "Darn it! I screwed up again!" Mia giggled a bit and patted Anna in the back "Ha, ha let's just forget it."

The next morning at Kaleido Stage, Sora happened to be already inside the building and was currently moping the stage. Though while she cleaned both Karlos and Jennifer showed up, feeling a bit surprised to find the Japanese girl here. "It's rather early for that kind of work." told Karlos, Sora stopped her moping and looked at the boss "Oh…Hello…" "Now Sora, newcomers don't usually clean the place when they first start." said Jennifer "Well…It's just that I woke up early and…Oh! I wanted to thank you boss for allowing me to join the Kaleido Stage I really appreciate this opportunity." Sora then realized that Karlos happened to be crouched down and looking at her legs closely, having the girl to ask "Umm…Is there something wrong?" "Hmm…You're a little on the short side but I think it'll work out." Karlos then took his leave from the stage and now it was just Sora and Jennifer. Unfortunately though some performers had happened to see and heard their conversation before approaching the two. Sora was the first to notice and greeted them "Oh good morning!" "My…Aren't we up bright and early this morning?" said Anna "Yeah if you like cleaning that much then you can do all of ours while you're at it." said Mia "Some of us need to get to our lessons early." told Charlotte "Oh yeah I'm really talented but since I'm not really close to Karlos the only way I can appear onstage is by actually working hard." added Julie, not liking what she heard at all Jennifer turned around and glared at the group "And did you all happen to forget who was standing right here?" they all looked at her in shock finally realizing just who is standing right next to Sora. "M-Miss Harrington! W-We…" started Charlotte only to be rudely cut off by Jennifer "Enough! I don't want to hear your pathetic excuse! I'm utterly disappointed and disgusted by all of your attitudes, this is not how a performer acts towards others! Which is why I've decided since all of you are eager to head to your lessons early I'll be the one teaching class today. Now move it to the practice room! Because once I arrive in that room you all had better warm up cause I'm going to start class right away, now go!" all the performers quickly left the stage not wanting to face more of Jennifer's wrath. Once they were all gone, Jennifer sighed and turned to Sora "I'm so sorry you had to be treated like that Sora." "No…It's fine…" "Hey…Once you finish up here try and make your way to the practice room most likely I'll still be giving lessons but I don't want you to miss out." "I'll be there as soon as I can Jennifer." "Good enough answer, see you then girlie!" Jennifer smiled a bit at the Japanese girl before making her leave from the stage and to the practice room.

1 hour passed and all the performers were gathered in the practice room for today's lesson. Just recently Jennifer gave the group of performers that picked on Sora their punishment, she stood before the group and stared at them hard. Most of them bowed their heads, fearing her hard stare and not wanting to be punished more. "I hope you all learned your lesson today and you better not let me catch you with those attitudes of yours again." Jennifer sternly said, the performers immediately nodded "Yes Harrington." "Good now join up with everyone else I'm going to start today's lesson." as they did what they were told Jennifer took a good look at the group of performers not seeing Sora amongst at all. "She still must be cleaning the stage…Hopefully she comes here soon or she'll be far behind…" thought Jennifer, who soon stood in front of the performers and clapped her hands to get their attention "All right that's enough chit chat! Everyone please listen carefully in these ballet lessons I want you to master how to move your body beautifully which is essential in performing for performing the grand ceremony. A beautiful body movement is-" "Excuse me! I'm so sorry I'm late!" everyone turned their attention to the door to find Sora standing there panting. Jennifer felt a bit relieved and glad Sora made it but kept up her calm composure and coolly said "You do know that I've just began teaching today's lesson?" "Yes and I'm sorry but I'll try harder in the future not to be late for class." "Very well then…Now is everyone in a row? All right one row at a time and on my command all of you will turn."

All the performers got ready and once Jennifer gave the command, one by one every row of performers turned. Though as it came to the row that Sora is in, the Japanese girl twirled so fast she ended up landing on the floor hard. This cause all the performers to laugh at her mistakes "That's enough laughing!" barked Jennifer, causing everyone to immediately become quiet. She then went over to Sora's fallen form and stood over her "If you don't mind me asking Sora…But do you have any ballet experience at all?" "N-No…" "Oh dear…That will not do at all…You see in order to present a beautiful pose on the stage, a knowledge of ballet is essential…" while Jennifer began lecturing to Sora and the performers, Anna and Mia were staring at the Japanese girl intently. "How did someone like her ever get in?" questioned Mia "It's so unfair! She gets to make them laugh!" said Anna having Mia sigh at this "You're unbelievable!" soon Sora got up from the floor and made her way over to where Anna and Mia are. As she leaned her back against the wall Mia turned to her "I can't believe you were onstage when you couldn't do something as easy as that turn!" soon Charlotte and Julie showed up to pick on the Japanese girl a bit more. "Poor Sora can't make a simple turn but she'll still get to go onstage." said Charlotte "It must be nice huh?" said Julie, Sora was silent for a bit and soon answered the girls "That's right…I can't make the simplest turn…But one day I'll be able to do great turns…Someday I'll be able to do the amazing routines just like Layla." this cause Mia to gasp at this "Just like Layla? The Golden Phoenix?" "Ha! You're kidding! You think the Golden Phoenix is that easy?" exclaimed Charlotte

Soon a little commotion was starting and it quickly caught Jennifer's attention "Oh for goodness sakes! Really? Even after I warned them?" but before she could do anything from out of nowhere someone said "Go ahead then…Why don't you show us your golden phoenix?" everyone turned towards the door to find Layla and Yuri standing there, Jennifer sighed a bit and muttered "And here we go…" "The golden phoenix must be a piece of cake for you since Karlos and even Jennifer has great confidence in your abilities." Sora just remained quiet only to have Layla question her "What's wrong? Can't you do it? I'll let you know, I won't acknowledge your presence here. You don't belong on the stage." after a moment of silence Sora finally broke it and looked at Layla with determination in her eyes "All right then I'll do it! I'll show you that I can do the golden phoenix." this surprised everyone that was in the room, though it greatly pleased Jennifer in a way. "Well now…Be ready to show it to me in a week from today…However if you can't do it after claiming so boldly that you could, you will leave here immediately." told Layla "Then so will I." added Jennifer, everyone looked at her in complete shock but Layla was the one more in shock "You can't be serious Jennifer!" "Oh but I am." "Fine I'll do it!" agreed Sora, Layla gave the Japanese girl a glare then glanced at Jennifer before leaving the room with Yuri following after.

Later out in the halls by the vending machines, Sora confronted Ken and told him what had happened in the practice room. "The golden phoenix?" exclaimed Ken "I'd like to borrow a video of Miss Layla if you have it." said Sora "That is totally reckless! The golden phoenix is a trick that only Miss Layla and even Miss Jennifer are capable of doing!" "I know…" "And it's a maneuver that's done on the swings…Sora have you ever worked on the swings before?" "No…But I've got no choice I have to do it! I want everyone to accept me! And with that I have no choice but to do the golden phoenix!" "Sora…" "Show her the video Ken." the two looked off to the side and found Jennifer standing there, arms crossed over her chest. "M-Miss Jennifer!" stuttered the stage manager "Didn't you hear me? Find the video and show it to Sora so she can start practicing right away." "Yes Miss Jennifer!" as Ken ran off to fulfill the order Sora nervously looked at Jennifer, feeling a bit hesitant to talk to her "U-Umm…Miss Jennifer…" "I told you just call me Jennifer didn't I?" "Yes well…I thought you would be mad at me for…" "For what happened earlier? Oh Sora I'm not mad at you." "But are you really serious about your decision?" "The one where I'll immediately leave the stage if you can't perform the maneuver in one week? Well…Yeah I'm serious and besides I wanted to see what happens if I raise the stakes a bit." "Don't you have any doubts that I'll fail performing this maneuver?" "No not really…I have high hopes for you." "But why?" Jennifer ruffled the Japanese girl's hair "I'll tell you later but for now I want you to start practicing right away." "Don't worry I won't stop until I've finally got the maneuver down!" "Now that's what I like to hear! Well then I'm taking my leave, good luck Sora." she lightly pinched the Japanese girl's cheek and walked down Kaleido Stage's hallway.

The next morning at the dormitory Sora had just returned from the stage after practicing all night. Just as she pass through the front doors Mia and Anna had just come out from another room, spotting the Japanese performer. "Were you practicing all this time?" asked Mia "Yes…Because if I don't work hard at it I'll-" answered Sora only to have Anna interrupt "It's just not something you can do just by working hard at it." "Why don't you give up and apologize to Layla?" questioned Mia "No I'm not giving up. I gave up once on joining Kaleido Stage because I miss the audition but…Somehow I managed to get in. So I wanna stay here I don't want to give up on anything again!" told Sora, little did the girls knew Jennifer had listened to their conversation from around the corner and Sora's answer happened to make her smirk "Good answer girlie, that's what I like to hear."

Later that day Sora continued on with her golden phoenix practice on the swings. Once she had finally grabbed onto the other swing, from down below Ken instructed her "Ok Sora! Next you have to do it while you're spinning!" just before she could go on, the Japanese girl heard someone calling out to her "Sora!" she looked down to find Mia, Anna and Jennifer standing there with Ken. "Hey we brought you something!" said Anna, Mia held up a lunchbox "We know you haven't eaten anything!" thus Sora made her way down to where the others are and ate the food that was in the lunchbox given to her. "How do you like it?" asked Mia "It's really good!" said Sora "You really need the proteins eat it all ok?" Anna handed her a drink "And I recommend you drink this?" Sora looked at the label and frowned a bit "Hot…Pepper juice drink?" "It'll give you energy!" "Anna…Mia…Thank you!" "Sorry Sora…I should have never mentioned something like the golden phoenix to you." said Mia "Don't worry about that, now I have the chance to prove myself around here." "At first I thought you were accepted here because you got in good with the boss but I guess that really wasn't the case." told Anna "Sorry for being hard on you…" apologized Mia, Sora waved her hands "It's ok, no big deal." Jennifer then noticed something about the Japanese girl "Oh? Sora the band aid on your hand is coming loose…" she gently grab Sora's hand "Here I'll fix it." while Jennifer fixed Sora's band aid, Anna gave the Japanese performer a thumbs up and a wink "Good luck! We're rooting for you!" "Thanks…Umm…Jennifer are-" "Like I said yesterday Sora I have high hopes for you, so of course I'll be rooting you on now get back to practicing you still have a long way to go and time is ticking." "Right!"

2 days passed and Sora was progressing fast in her practice, right now it was night time and she was still practicing on stage. Anna, Mia, Jennifer and Ken were there to, but they happened to doze off while sitting in the audience. Sora continued on with practicing the maneuver but once she did the spin and launched herself towards the other swing, she missed by a inch and began to fall. Until from out of nowhere someone grabbed her hands just in time. Sora looked up and blushed to find Yuri on the swing, holding her hands tightly "Yuri…" "Where on Earth are you looking when you jump?" "Huh?" "There is no Juliet who is not always looking for her Romeo. That's why you cannot be Juliet." Yuri then toss Sora back to the other swing and made his way off the stage. Though before he left Yuri spotted Jennifer asleep in the audience. He made his way over to the woman and smiled a bit as he saw her sleeping face "Of course you would be here Jennifer…A bit typical of you…" both Mia and Anna woke up just in time to see Yuri pick up Jennifer's sleeping form. "Y-Yuri? What brings you to the stage?" asked Mia "I was just having a little chat with Sora…Now if you'll excuse me I'll be taking Jennifer home now so she can properly rest." the girls said nothing more but just watch the handsome male performer carry Jenifer away.

Soon the day had finally arrived where Sora had to perform the golden phoenix in front of everyone. While everyone began taking their seats Anna, Mia and Ken who were already seated noticed that Jennifer was nowhere in sight. "Hey…Have any of you seen Jennifer?" asked Anna "No not at all…" answered Ken "I thought for sure she would be here to see how Sora's golden phoenix turned out." told Mia, once everyone had taken their seats the lights went out and only the trapeze set was lit. Sora who was level above the audience looked down at the people "Thank you everyone for coming!" she then grabbed her swing and gripped it tightly with her hands "I've got to do it…I must believe!" thus she began swinging back and forth, once she had the right momentum Sora began spinning fast and launched herself in the air, pulling off a beautiful pose. This happened to surprise everyone in the audience, though for Mia and Anna they were happy and relieved. Sora then began heading towards the other swing but to her dismay missed it which shocked her. Suddenly a hand shot out and tightly grabbed onto her hand, Sora looked up to find Jennifer smiling down at her "Well now…I must say you gave quite a performance right there." "Jennifer!" seeing Sora's surprise expression made Jennifer happily laugh before having them make their way down from the set.

Once setting foot off the trapeze Layla and Yuri approached the girls. "You're really something…You didn't get the last part right…But what you did can definitely be called the golden phoenix…You deserve credit for at least pulling that much off." said Layla who then began walking away "Yuri lets go…And Jennifer you're coming along, we need to have a talk." Jennifer dramatically sighed "Somehow I know you were going to say that." she then grinned and turned to Sora, patting her head "Good job Sora I knew you could do it, very proud of you girlie!" "Thanks Jennifer." "Well I'll be seeing you later, take care!" the Harrington then ran off to catch up with her best friend and Yuri. She soon caught up with them walking down the hall and once she did it was silent between the three for a bit. Having enough of the silence Jennifer broke it "So are you relieved that I won't be leaving the stage since Sora performed the golden phoenix Layla?" "Yes…Though I'm very surprised that girl actually managed to do it…You didn't help her while she was practicing-" "Nope not at all I simply just watched her." "I see…Please don't mention about you leaving the stage for good ever again all right? I don't think I could stand not having you by my side Jennifer." "Fine…It's a promise." Yuri turned to the Harrington "Were you really serious about leaving the stage if Sora failed to perform the golden phoenix Jennifer?" "Of course I was, you should know that I take my decisions very seriously." "I'll take that in mind." "Seeing how it's getting close to lunchtime why don't the three of us go out together and find something to eat I'm starving!" "That's sounds like a good idea." said Layla, Jennifer grinned and jog towards the entrance of the building "Well come on, times a wasting!" both Layla and Yuri chuckled a bit before following after Jennifer towards the front.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It happened to be a beautiful day at Kaleido Stage, all the performers were hard at work practicing. Just now Sora, Mia and Anna had just finished up their practice session and were heading upstairs of the training facility for a break. "Your spin trick is great Sora." told Mia "Really?" asked Sora "Can all Asian people spin like that?" wondered Anna having the Japanese girl give her a confused look "What? Oh uh well…No but I used to do rhythmic gymnastics." soon the girls noticed lots of performers gathered around the pillar for something, which causes Mia to run over and have a look. Once she reached the front of the group, Mia spotted Ken finish putting up a poster for the next production. "So this is it! The show that Layla and the others are practicing is for Cinderella!" exclaimed Mia, Ken turned to her nodding "That's right, even all trainees is suppose to participate in the show." "All of us?" asked Sora who joined Mia's side along with Anna. Ken nodded once more "Yup that's right so good luck everyone." Mia quickly went over to Ken's side and whispered to him "You just want to wish Sora luck isn't that right Ken?" the stage manager blushed and nervously scratched his cheek "Oh well I…Uh…"

Soon Mia went off and started ranting a bit in excitement "Oh wow! I need to let my family know about this quick! My Dad and my Grandma are huge fans of Kaleido Stage since I'm their star of hope, they'll be ecstatic that I'll be on the stage! So what if I'm only gonna play the part of a pumpkin?" she then turned to Anna "In the end I guess you're more the prince type huh?" "No…I actually rather aim for the pumpkin." "Huh?" "Oh you know cause my Father is a standup comedian." "Oh…So that's why…" Mia then turned to her Japanese friend "Sora what about your family?" "My family is…" getting the idea Ken answered for her "They were not very enthusiastic about you joining Kaleido Stage is that right?" "Yeah…Kind of…By the way aren't you hungry? Let's head over to the dining hall."

Later back at the practice hall Jennifer was once again teaching class, once they were finished with one lesson she began to clap in order to get all the performers' attention "Now everyone gather around!" they quickly did so in order to avoid being yelled at and once all the performers had gathered Jennifer looked at all of them "Everyone Karlos is going to announce which of you is cast for Cinderella." she stepped aside letting Karlos take her place and began his announcement "The production of Cinderella we'll be presenting is a masterpiece, that includes a ballroom dance scene so I want all of you to appear on the stage. Now I will announce the rolls." Ken handed the boss a clipboard and thus he began reading off names "First the guards of the castle…Albert, Emilio and Chris those three that's all…Girls in the town…Claire, Jean…Prince's attendant…Anna…" immediately both Mia and Sora turned to their friend, feeling excited for her. "Wow! It's perfect!" exclaimed Mia "I can't believe that you get to perform with Yuri!" realizing what her role is Anna gasp "T-The part won't have gags?" the girls shook their heads "No, no, no! Why would it?" Karlos simply ignored the girls and continued "For the role of the fairy godmother I already have Jennifer playing the role, but we're gonna someone be her follower so I'll choose some of you to practice it at first then I will select someone from that group. Even if you're not chosen you'll be appearing in a crowd scene so do not let your guard down! Now here are the candidates for the fairy godmother follower role…Charlotte, Julie, Mia…" Jennifer smirked a bit as watched Sora and Anna cheer for their friend before continuing to listen as Karlos still called out names for the cast.

Soon once Karlos had finished up the casting he announced to the group "That's all." realizing that not once did the boss call out her name Sora approached him "Excuse me boss!" "What?" "What is my role in Cinderella?" "Well it seems you don't have a role." "What?…I don't have a role?" Jennifer then sharply elbowed Karlos in the side and gave him a look "You're forgetting about one thing Karlos." "Ow…Oh yes you have a point there Jennifer…There is a role you can start doing as early as tomorrow if you like Sora…Yes you can be the one who hands out toys to the children between each show." "What toys? Can you really call that a role? I don't even get to go onstage!" exclaimed Sora "If you don't like it then don't do it Sora in the end you'll be practically doing nothing for the production." told Jennifer, realizing she has a point Sora simply nodded "I'll do it…I'll play that role!" Mia and Anna quickly went over to their Japanese friend. "Hey don't worry about it, let's practice together." said Mia "Yeah let's!" agreed Anna "You don't have any time to practice with the two of them because starting tomorrow your role will be passing out Kaleido Stage toys." ordered Karlos who then took his leave from the room along with Ken.

Much later at the performance of Romeo and Juliet, during intermission Sora began doing her job at passing out toys to the little children in the audience. Though to her dismay it didn't go well at all even with Mr. Policeman's help. Once intermission ended Sora headed backstage dragging the bag of toys behind her and took a seat. Soon Karlos, Ken and Jennifer showed up, immediately spotting the Japanese girl. As they stopped in front of her Karlos quickly took notice of the bag still filled with toys "What's this?" "Well…I wasn't able to hand any toys out during intermission." "After you had said you would do it, you cannot even fill a role like handing out toys? I should have never made an exception and let you join Kaleido Stage company!" and thus the boss stormed off with Ken quickly following after while Jennifer stayed behind. Sora nervously looked at the Harrington, hoping she wouldn't snap at her too "U-Umm…J-Jennifer?" "Oh Sora don't worry so much. I'm not gonna snap at you therefore I'm not mad." "R-Really?" "Yes…Listen once the show is over head to Sarah's room and we'll talk more there ok?" "Ok…" Jennifer ruffled Sora's hair before darting down the backstage hall to get ready for the next scene.

2 hours later at Sarah's room, the Kaleido stage diva was throwing some punches at her punching bag while Jennifer and Sora sat upon her couch watching. Currently the two women were listening to the Japanese girl angrily rant about Karlos "How dare he? Talking to me like that? How does he expect me to hand out all those toys in such a short period time? He must be having fun asking someone like me to do something impossible!" Jennifer then looked at Sora who tiredly sigh "So…Feel any better?" "A bit…It's just that…You and Layla are up on the stage glowing, and here I am off the stage growling…" Sarah ceased punching the bag and turned to the Japanese girl "Sora why don't you give it a try? This is the best way to relieve your stress you know." the diva then tried to do a kick but end up slipping and hitting her head on the floor. Jennifer got up from the couch sighing a bit "Oh boy…You need to be more careful Sarah, don't want you injuring yourself." "Ha, ha, ha! My bad!" as Jennifer was helping her friend up Sora called out to the second top performer "Jennifer?" "Hm? Yes what is it Sora?" "Do you understand why Karlos gave me this role in the first?" "Honestly I don't have a clue…But Sora a role is still a role, you just gotta keep trying and do your best." "If you say so…"

The next day during the intermission of Romeo and Juliet, Sora tried handing out toys again but this time in a clown costume. This time she successfully handed out all the toys in the bag to the energetic little kids. Unfortunately though as she made it backstage, Sora couldn't understand why Karlos was so mad at her when she informed him that she passed out all the toys. The Japanese girl soon found out by Ken that due to her flashy performance just now the next show was delayed 10 minutes also some children couldn't find their way back to their seats and even some were injured because they ran back. Really upset by this Sora ran off crying and ended up outside of the stage, watching the sunset. "I was only thinking about getting attention for myself…All I could think of was getting people to say that I was amazing…I wasn't thinking at all of the progression of the show…I don't blame Karlos for being mad at me and even Jennifer who's probably mad at me now…" Sora sadly said and soon more tears began falling down her face which in turn ruined her makeup.

She then heard footsteps coming up behind her and turned around to find Yuri and Jennifer approaching her. "Oh…So it's you…" Yuri said as he and Jennifer stopped in front of the Japanese girl causing her to gasp "Yuri! And Jennifer!" "We really do not want to see a clown crying, isn't that right Jennifer?" the performer nodded in agreement "He's right." at this Sora wiped away her tears with her arm, in turn it messed up her makeup more. Jennifer giggled a bit at this and took out a handkerchief, with it she took a step closer to Sora and began wiping away the makeup "Sora…Even if your heart is crying, isn't it the job of the clown to make other people happy?" all the Japanese girl could do was nod, Yuri took a step closer to the girls and wiped off some makeup that Jennifer had miss on Sora "I'm glad to see that you're better. Now if you'll excuse us, Jennifer and I need to be going." the Harrington lightly pinched Sora's cheek "See you later Sora." Jennifer then turned to Yuri who offered out his arm to her, which she took and the two walked away. While they were leaving Yuri said "You seem to care a lot for Sora." "Yeah…She's almost like a little sister to me…" "I see…" "Something wrong Yuri?" "No it's nothing…I was just simply wondering what Sora is to you, that's all." "Oh well…Ok then…"

Later that day as people were coming in for the night performance, both Ken and Jennifer were in the front lobby watching Sora from behind a pillar. They watched as the Japanese girl stood there in costume, frozen like a statue. "Sora what are you doing?" wondered Ken, Jennifer smiled a bit as she spotted some kids going over to Sora and were wondering if she was a doll or not "Well now…I can't believe she's performing in the lobby." she then spotted Karlos watching Sora from the second floor and smirked a bit. Jennifer then patted Ken on the back and began making her way backstage "Well I better get going the show is about to start, see you later Ken." "All right Jennifer, break a leg out there!" Many minutes passed and soon it came to intermission, Jennifer watched from backstage as Sora began passing out the toys to the children. Seeing how the Japanese girl is making all the children smile while she passes toys out in turn made Jennifer smile. Once intermission was over and the show progressed on coming to Layla's golden phoenix, Jennifer was a bit surprised as she watched little lights began filling the audience making it look like stars. She began giggling once realizing this is Sora's doing "Looks like you've played your role wonderful this time Sora…I'm quite impressed."

The show ended quite beautifully like always and once it did Layla, Jennifer, Yuri and Karlos made their way to the limo waiting in the front. The three top performers signed some autographs before finally making their way into the vehicle which soon drove away from the stage. While the limo was smoothly driving down the road Layla focused her attention on the boss and her best friend "Karlos, Jennifer…I wonder…What could the both of you possibly be expecting out of this girl?" the two looked at each other before smirking and looking away not answering Layla's question at all. Not liking how she was not given an immediate answer, Layla focused more of her attention on her best friend "Jennifer…You definitely know something and I want you to tell me right now." "Sorry no can do Layla…But don't worry I'll tell you…Someday…" "Now what's that suppose to mean?" "Not telling!" "Of course you would act a little bit childish during a serious moment." "It doesn't seem so serious to me, besides isn't that what you love me for?" Layla crossed her arms over her chest and looked away "No comment." Jennifer began to chuckle at her friend's action and in turn the stoic Hamilton began to chuckle just a bit, not able to stay mad at her best friend for long.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Today at Kaleido Stage, lots of photographers and news reporters were there for the introduction of the new production that will be coming soon. "The sting of humiliation…The thrill of pursuit! And the bliss of new love…Kaleido Stage presents: Cinderella! Starring Layla Hamilton in the title role, Yuri Killian as her prince and Jennifer Harrington as her loving fairy godmother! In the supporting roles we proudly present with a performance of our newest troupe members!" announced the MC who continued on while the photographers began taking many photos of the cast who stood in front of them in their amazing costumes. Sora happened to watching from the side feeling a bit sad that she didn't receive a role in this production. She looked at her friends Anna and Mia who were standing with the cast for photos "Anna is going to be really great as the prince's attendant and Mia…She won the role of the fairy godmother's follower after some really tough competition, she gets to perform with Jennifer…I can't wait to see them perform! But I wish…I had been cast too…" "So you're jealous right?" "Well I…Yes I…" as the Japanese girl turned around to answer the person, she was surprised to find a small blond girl standing there "W-What are you doing back here? Audience members aren't allowed to come backstage little girl." "And you're not allowed onstage." retorted the girl and Sora was caught off guard by that "Uh…Well…I wouldn't say that I'm allowed…I mean I've been onstage before…" "You must have been terrible!" "W-Well! It wasn't the best performance but I was just starting out. I mean for being my very first performance it actually went pretty-" "What a loser!" and the young blond girl darted away making Sora stare after her in wonder "Who was that kid anyway?"

Later in the practice room Layla, Jennifer and Mia were doing their scene on the trampoline. Anna and Mia came upon the scene and saw that others were watching too before making their way over to Ken. "Wow! It looks like Mia is going to be awesome." said Anna "I know!" agreed Sora, the girls then heard Layla say "Come on Mia! Jump higher!" "Ok!" "Too slow!" "Right!" "Not high enough!" "Got it!" "You've got to make the audience members want to watch you and Jennifer!" "Ok!" while the three girls continued on with their routine Ken sighed a bit "They've been doing this all day! They haven't even taken a break." "What? You're kidding!" exclaimed Anna "It must be exhausting!" said Sora, suddenly Mia made a mistake in the routine causing her to bump into Layla and Jennifer. In turn the girls fell onto the trampoline, Layla immediately stood up and glared at Mia in frustration. The panting girl noticed this and bowed her head "I'm sorry!" Layla said nothing at all but jumped off the trampoline and took her jacket that someone held for her. Mia was surprised by the top performer's action "What? Layla!" "There is no pint in doing it again, you're not concentrating." "But I'll get it right this time!" "Don't bother! This is a very important scene Mia, if you're not up to it then we'll find someone who is." "Huh?" "This routine is the climax of the first act. If the fairy godmother's follower is not good enough we'll just have to cut you from the cast!" Layla then began storming off with Mia calling after her "Wait! Please Layla! Give me another chance! Please! I know I can do this, I know I can!" the top performer did not stop at all to Mia's pleas and left the room completely.

Mia tiredly bowed her head in disappointment and thus some of the girls began making some cruel comments about her. "What did I tell you? I knew she would never be able to pull it off." Charlotte arrogantly said "They should have casted me in the first place!" declared Julie, more performers began making more comments which soon came to the point where Jennifer abruptly stood and glared at the performers "Since when did this practice suddenly turned into a gossiping group? If all of you are so confident in your talents how come most of your performances are sloppy? If all of you keep it up like that then for sure Karlos will cancel the entire production and we wouldn't want that now would we? So all of your keep working on your performances because looking at them right now it makes me wanna hurl!" seeing that none of the performers were moving from their spots Jennifer barked at them "Well what are you waiting for? Move it!" everyone jumped a bit before quickly going off and start practicing. Jennifer tiredly sighed and turned to Mia who was still sitting there on the trampoline "Hey…Don't stress too much over what Layla said, she just wants this production to look amazing. For now take a break but keep practicing this routine ok?" "Yes Miss Jennifer…" "Please call me Jennifer, Mia you don't have to be so formal with me." she then kneel down in front of Mia and gently patted her cheek "And don't let the comments get to you all right?" "Ok…" with that Jennifer help Mia off the trampoline and onto the mats to rest.

Sora and Anna quickly ran over to them to check up on their friend as they did, the blond girl that Sora saw before walked up to the girls and while looking at Mia she said "Why bother on practicing? It's not like you're going to get better at it anyway. You stink!" "It's you again!" exclaimed Sora "You know this kid?" asked Anna, Jennifer looked at the girl and sternly said "Marion that's not nice to say to someone. Now go, your father is waiting for you by the door unless you want him to scold you for interrupting practice." "Yeah you're right, sorry Jennifer." and the girl named Marion began leaving but not before showing off a bit by doing some flips. "Cute kid." said Anna "Yeah right." said Sora "Who is she?" Ken came over to the girls and answered "Her name is Marion, she's the daughter of Jean one of our carpenters." "That's why she was backstage!" said Sora "Is she always that sweet?" Anna sarcastically asked, Jennifer slowly shook her head and said "A few years ago her mother was the star of our trampoline act so she really knows a lot about performing on it…I guess she can be kind of critical when she sees someone not…Well…Not quite to her standards." "So…Who's her mother?" asked Sora "Oh you've never met her…She died awhile ago…Collapsed one day after she came off the stage." told Ken "Oh…That's awful…" "Yeah…Must have been rough." said Anna "It was…" said Jennifer who Mia then turned to "Umm…If you don't mind Jennifer…Can we start practicing again?" "Well…If you're up to it…" "Yes I am…" "Ok then…" Anna and Sora watched their friend in worry as she made her way back onto the trampoline with Jennifer.

The next day at Kaleido Stage inside Karlos' office, he and Jennifer were going over a few things for Cinderella when they heard knocking upon the door. "Come in!" said Karlos, the door to office opened and revealed Mia behind it along with Anna and Sora. The girls quickly stepped inside the room and shut the door behind them "Umm…Boss can I have a word with you and Jennifer?" asked Mia "Go ahead." "Well concerning about my role as the fairy godmother's follower…Could it be possible that you make it for three people?" "What? Make the fairy godmother's follower into a three person role? Wouldn't that be more difficult?" "It would but I know that Anna, Sora and I will do a great job!" "Huh? Come again?" "That's right! I'll be performing with Anna and Sora!" Karlos sat there in thought for a bit then looked at Jennifer who smiled at him and gave him a nod. The boss then turned away in his chair "Go ahead…It's a rather interesting idea and I'm curious to see what you girls will do with it. I'll make sure the director and Layla are ok with it." "You mean…It's all right with you that I appear on the stage?" asked Sora "That depends on your level of performance…I will give you 3 days ladies, if I do not like what I see after that I'm following Layla's suggestion and cancelling all the performances understood?" the girls immediately nodded and bow "Yes! Thank you so much boss!"

Outside on the sandy shoreline Anna, Mia and Sora were running along happily laughing at how the meeting turned out. Jennifer was casually walking behind the girls and seeing how happy they are right now made her smile. Then the three girls laid upon the sand exhausted from all their running "I can't believe he's letting us perform together!" said Sora "Now we have to create the coolest trick ever!" declared Anna "Thanks a lot guys!" told Mia, Sora shook her head "No thank you Mia! Without you I wouldn't be onstage!" the Japanese girl then sat up causing Anna and Mia to sit up also. "Sora…" started Anna "Are you ok?" finished Mia "I'm starting to have fun handing out the toys but to be onstage is…Well that's the whole reason on why I came here isn't it? And now thanks to you guys I might just get another chance!" Jennifer then stood in front of the girls grinning a bit "So how about we get this party started?" "Jennifer is right! Let's get you onstage Sora!" exclaimed Mia "Thanks guys!" said the Japanese girl

Later in Mia's room, the four girls were trying to come up with a routine they can perform for Karlos. Just now Mia had showed them one routine they should try on the computer but the results came out badly. Anna and Sora groaned in frustration and laid upon the floor while Jennifer took a seat upon the bed and Mia sat at her computer. "That's the ninth routine where we all ended up with massive headaches." told Sora "Well…Look on the bright side at least the four of us are getting headaches in a simulation." Anna pointed out "Don't worry guys I'll figure something out! It's gotta be spectacular though or else they're gonna cancel." said Mia, Jennifer then laid back on the bed and began staring up at the ceiling "Well…What comes in mind when you girls think of Cinderella?" "The glass slipper! What comes to mind for you Anna?" said Sora "The handsome pumpkin prince!" answered Anna "That's not part of the story…" "Well it should be!" "That's it! That is it!" exclaimed Mia "You're not talking about the pumpkin prince are you Mia?" asked Jennifer who tried not to laugh "Oh let me play that role!" declared Anna, Mia shook her head "No, no!" "What? Why?" "I don't know what you're talking about…But check this out!" the girls gathered around the computer and watch as Mia began a demonstration "Anna, Sora and I will put some kind of device in our wands so when we jump out we spread a triangle of fabric and then when we jump up it'll look like a pumpkin. While we're doing that Jennifer can do here own thing and once we form the pumpkin she can be on top of it!" "Wow that's a cool trick…It's gonna be tough though…I mean if you girls don't jump at exactly the right height, at exactly the right time it's not gonna look like a pumpkin." told Jennifer "Yes I know but I was thinking that once we make the pumpkin Cinderella could be inside it and she'll be revealed once you jump off Jennifer." said Mia "That is so cool!" said Sora "You really think we'll be able to pull all that together in three days?" asked Anna "Well you girls just have to get practice in." told Jennifer "I think I'll call it the triple illusion since there are three followers for the fairy godmother." said Mia "Good name!" said Anna, Jennifer smiled and patted the girls' heads "Then it's settle the intensive training for the triple illusion starts first thing tomorrow!"

The following day the girls had been training had in a private practice room for quite sometime now. Currently they were taking a small break after Sora messed up the routine while they sat on the mats panting, Sora looked at the others "I'm sorry…I messed it up again." "Quit apologizing Sora…All of us were off…" panted Jennifer "I just…Cant…Catch it…I mean…I felt like I'm making the mistake over and over again." "Stop taking the responsibility Sora, the three of us just weren't synchronized and in turn it throws Jennifer off. We're just not working as a team yet." said Anna who then looked at Mia "Well? Back me up here." "If you don't think I can do this routine it's ok just tell me." said Sora "I never said you couldn't do it!" exclaimed Mia "My timing was messed up it's just as much as my fault like anyone else's!" said Anna, Mia shook her head "No it's my fault for having this stupid idea in the first place." Marion who had been watching the girls from the side along with her father and Ken ran up to the girls and stopped in front of them "You three are pathetic! No talent losers like you have no business being on that trampoline do you know how even stupid you sound? It's my fault, no it's my fault!" "Back off kid! This isn't any of your business!" told Mia this cause to have some tears appear in Marion's eyes and she began yelling at them "Get out of here! You're not fit except for Jennifer! Any of you are not fit to use the same trampoline as my mother did!" Jean quickly went over to his daughter's side and gently touched her shoulder "Marion…"

The blond little girl then began running out of the room with her father calling after her "Marion!" before he went to chase after his daughter Jean said to Anna, Mia and Sora "Look…I'm sorry about that…She just…She took her mother's death really hard…" the carpenter then left to chase after his daughter and just as he did Layla arrived in the room followed by Charlotte and Julie. They stopped in front of the girls and Layla crossed her arms over her chest "Karlos told me about your fairy godmother idea…I think it could be interesting." "Oh! I'm so glad you think so!" "Provided of course all three people performing the routine are up to the task." "Yes we're working on hard!" said the girls "Unfortunately though I don't think Sora and Anna are ready yet." said Layla "Huh?" "Charlotte and Julie are more inexperience performers so I'm suggesting them for the role." "But Sora and Anna are the reasons on why I suggested this!" Mia protested "This is not a slumber party! They maybe your friends but they're not the most competent trampoline artists we have. If you're not happy with my casting changes then you can step down too." "Mia…" started Anna who was about to go to her side until Sora grabbed her arm "Come on let's go…" "But we-" "It's ok…Layla is right…" as the girls began to leave Charlotte arrogantly said "Don't feel bad we're just better than you." "Yeah! That's just the way it goes sometimes." agreed Julie, Jennifer then began leaving also having Layla call out to her "Jennifer! Where are you going?" "Away…Just being near those two and their egos makes me want to vomit." "Jennifer!" she simply ignored her best friend's call and made her way out of the room.

10 minutes later Jennifer had wandered into the rehearsal hall where she found Marion there sulking. She casually strolled up to the little girl and stood in front of her "Marion?…May I sit down?" Marion gave the performer a small nod and with that Jennifer sat down next to her. The two simply just sat there in silence for a few minutes until Jennifer spoke up "I know you're still feeling upset about what happened earlier…But you didn't really need to be that harsh to the girls." "But it's the truth Jennifer! No one can be good as my Mom!" "You kind of said the same thing to me also when you first saw me practice…And yet you gave me the chance to prove to you that I can be a good trampoline artist isn't that right?" "Yes…From there on I thought of you as my big sister…" "So why aren't you doing that for the others?" Marion remained quiet and knowing she wouldn't answer made Jennifer wrap her arm around the little girl "I know you're still taking your mother's death hard…I don't blame you…But at least give Sora, Anna and Mia the chance to prove to you that they can become good trampoline artist just like your mother was ok?" "Fine…Jennifer?" "Yes?" "Can I have a hug?" "Of course." Marion climbed into Jennifer's lap and hugged the performer tightly, lightly sobbing into her chest. She returned the embrace and began gently petting the little girl's head "It's all right…Just let it all out Marion…"

The next morning inside the practice hall Sora was on the trampoline, practicing the routine. While she practiced, Marion opened the door to the room and was surprised to find the Japanese girl there. Soon Jean showed up and stood by his daughter "Good morning Marion." "Dad she…" "She's been practicing here for a couple of hours so far. Says she's not going to get any better unless she works hard at it." the blond girl stared at Sora for a moment before stepping inside the room and continued watching the Japanese girl practice. As she did for just a second Marion saw Sora turn into her mother, making the little girl smile. All of a sudden Sora messed up on a move and bounced off the trampoline, heading straight for the mats. "No!" exclaimed Marion, two figures quickly ran pass her and towards Sora who fell on top of the two. The Japanese girl slowly sat up and rub the back of her head before looking at the two figures beneath her "Oh my gosh Anna, Jennifer! Are you two ok?" the girls gently push Sora off of them and sat up on the mat. "We would be if you would get off of us." said Anna "Sora you should really watch where you're landing next time." told Jennifer, Sora laughed a bit "Sorry about that!" "You think it's funny? Almost crushed me! Well anyway let's get back to work." soon Mia showed up in the room and joined the girls on the mat. "Mia…" said Sora "Where are Charlotte and Julie?" asked Jennifer "Yeah should you guys be practicing?" wondered Anna "I gave up the role…" told Mia "What? But…Why did you do that?" asked Sora "Well…I decided to perfect the Triple Illusion with you and my Grandma always says that good friendship should be cherished."

All the girls stood back up on their feet "Mia…" said Anna "I'm sorry you guys…It shouldn't have taken me this long to do the right thing." "Are you sure this is really what you want to do?" asked Sora "Well…Actually I haven't given up the part just yet." "What?" said Anna "Mia is right…Karlos promised us three days. You guys still have time to get the Triple Illusion working the way it should." told Jennifer "If it still doesn't work by the deadline we'll resign our roles." said Mia, Anna nodded "Ok." "Thanks Mia." said Sora, Jean then stood by Marion's side while watching the girls "I think those girls are going to be first class Kaleido stars one day." "Me too!" agreed Marion "Well then what are we waiting for?" wondered Jennifer "On the spins I'll slow mine down a bit, but Sora you need to speed yours up." instructed Mia "Ok while you guys are busy spinning around I'll throw in a monkey pose!" told Anna only to have Mia and Sora exclaim "No you won't!" Jennifer laughed a bit and patted the girls' backs "All right we've only got one day left so we've really got to work!" the girls cheered and made their way back onto the trampoline. As they continued with their practice Marion who was still watching the group said to Jean "I thought I saw Mommy…" "Hmm?" "Oh it was nothing…" "Can we get something to eat Daddy?" "I thought you would never ask."

The following day at Kaleido Stage, everyone had gathered for the Triple Illusion performance. Ken headed backstage to find the girls stretching "Everyone is here…Start whenever you guys are ready." "Right!" once they finished stretching the girls made their way onto the trampoline. The girls bowed to the audience and began performing their routine. Karlos, Yuri and Layla carefully watched as Sora, Anna and Mia went in for the Triple Illusion. Seeing how the girls were about to mess up their trick almost made Layla jump out of her seat. She then relaxed once seeing the girls successfully grabbed each other's cloths and made it into a pumpkin. Yuri smiled a bit as he watched Jennifer jump up and landed gracefully on top of the pumpkin. "Well what do you think?" asked Karlos while he stared at the pumpkin the girls made "I think these girls aren't very polished performers." admitted Layla "But still you were on the edge of your seat while they were performing." told Karlos, the stoic Hamilton gave no reply while Yuri crossed his arms over his chest "They're pretty captivated…I think all they need is a push in the right direction." Layla stood up from her seat and began making her leave "Well Karlos it looks like you've got your work cut out for you." "I guess that means they've passed…For now anyway…" Yuri grinned a bit before getting up from his seat and just before he left, the handsome performer gazed at Jennifer for a bit and soon walked away.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Today had finally came for the first show to start off Kaleido Stage's production; Cinderella. Currently while families were arriving and taking their seats, the performers are backstage quickly getting ready. Ken stopped in front of the dressing room where most of the performers were in, already in costume "15 minutes until curtain folks!" he then ran away to check on other things for the show. Sora who was fixing her costume turned to Mia who was putting on make up "So…Your grandmother's surgery was ok?" "Uh huh! I called a few minutes ago, everything is fine." "I'm so glad!" said Anna, Mia smiled once hearing this and turned to her "Thanks Anna!" she then stared at Anna who wore gag glasses upon her face "How do you like my nose job, huh?" Mia immediately pulled them off her friend's face "Give me those things!" "Oh come on! If I can't make this follower thing funny I'm gonna explode! Back me up here Sora!" the two turned to their Japanese friend only to find her stretching her legs. "Great…She's not even listening! Too busy getting ready for your second Kaleido Stage triumph huh?" said Anna, Sora who happened to hear this was completely caught off guard and fell backwards while stretching her leg. "Sora!" the girls looked towards the door to find Sarah and Jennifer standing there, looking absolutely stunning in their costumes "Huh? Ms. Sarah? A-And Jennifer?" exclaimed Sora "Ms. Sarah cleans up pretty good doesn't she?" asked Anna, this happen to make the dive mad a bit in turn she pulled out her nunchuks and began twirling them around "Hey! I always look this nice!" she soon stopped once the nunchuks hit her head, the girls look at her in disbelief while Jennifer began laughing at her friend's action "Ha, ha, ha! Oh Sarah you always make me laugh on opening day! Ha, ha, ha!"

5 minutes later in backstage, all the performers were doing last minute warm ups since the opening of the show is nearing soon, and from there they could hear announcer say "Ladies and gentlemen! Prepare yourself to be swept away! The performance in a few moments." Sora, Mia and Anna then spotted Layla approaching with Yuri, Jennifer and Karlos by her side. "The three of us have to be perfect today!" told Mia, Sora nodded in excitement "Right! Let's do this!" while Layla and the others passed the three, Ken walked over to the girls "There's not an empty seat in the house so break a leg you guys!" this happened to make the girls more nervous than before "A full house?" exclaimed Mia, realizing his mistake Ken sheepishly rubbed the back of his head "I…Uh…I didn't mean to freak you guys out…" Layla who was few feet away from the girls turned to them "Everybody gets nervous on opening day you know." this happened to surprise Sora a lot and she thought "Even her? Along with Jennifer? But they've done it so many times!" Karlos also turned to the girls "Remember you made it into the show by the skin of you teeth so don't you let me down!" Right!"

The show started out beautifully and continued on like that, thus it came close to the fairy godmother's scene. While Sarah was out on stage heavenly singing, Sora, Mia and Anna were watching her from backstage. Ken then approached the girls and informed them "The fairy godmother routine starts as soon as Sarah is finished with her song…you guys ready?" they simply nodded but Sora happen to notice Mia shaking a bit, she grabbed her hand and firmly squeezed it hoping it would comfort her "Let's do our best, if we do that there's no way we can fail. Am I right?" both Mia and Anna nodded just as Jennifer showed up "Hey you girls ready?" "Yes!" soon Sarah went off stage thus Jennifer nudge the girls "Let's go!" the audience clapped as the group made their appearance and began performing their routine. While the girls were preparing to do the Triple Illusion, Jennifer who was doing her own thing quickly took notice of the girls' timing. "Oh no! Mia's timing is off! I've got to do something and quick!" thought Jennifer who then jumped hard on the trampoline and launched herself towards the girls. She quickly grabbed Mia's cloth and handed it to Anna before jumping to the lower trampoline. The girls then successfully formed the pumpkin and Jennifer jumped up high, landing gracefully on the top again. She soon jumped off once the girls left go of their cloths and landed right next to Layla who had transformed into her beautiful Cinderella costume. The best friends then did a magnificent pose which the whole audience cheered at. "Impressive save Jennifer." told Layla, the Harrington who was panting a bit from the whole thing gave a nod "Yeah well…You know I try to make everything go smoothly…" "Still I'm impressed." Jennifer simply shrugged and once the lights went out, she quickly left the stage as Layla began performing the next scene.

Later that day once the show was over Jennifer changed her clothes and began to look for the girls. She soon found Mia and Anna at the dormitory as she approached them, Jennifer noticed the sad look on Mia's face. "Hey there!" greeted the performer, the girls looked at her as she stopped in front of them "Jennifer…" "Huh? Now what's with the long face Mia?" "It's just that…I screwed up today Jennifer…If it wasn't for you then the whole Triple Illusion will be ruined because of my mistake! I'm so sorry for today Jennifer!" "Hey now…You don't need to apologize at least the routine was somewhat of a success, you just gotta keep working on it. You at least tried your best today right?" "Yes…" "Then that's all that matters…By the way where's Sora?" "She's with her father right now." told Anna, Jennifer looked at her a bit surprised "Sora's father is here?" "Yeah…He came to the show and we met him once the fairy godmother's scene was over." "Well…Do you know where they are now?" "I think they're in front of Kaleido Stage." "All right look I'm gonna go over there and check on Sora, see you girls tomorrow." Mia and Anna simply just wave and watched as Jennifer left the dormitory.

She soon arrived in front of Kaleido Stage and spotted Sora talking to a older man off to the side. Jennifer then began approaching them "Sora!" the Japanese girl immediately look at the call of her name and smiled a bit "Jennifer!" she stopped in front of Sora "Hey…I just came by to check up on you." "Oh how very kind of you Jennifer!" the performer then noticed a red mark on the Japanese girl's arm "Sora…Did you get hurt during the routine?" "Huh? Oh this? I got it when I was heading backstage stage and I clumsily fell but I'm ok." "You sure?" "Yes! Oh before I forget, Jennifer I want you to meet my Father! He came here today and saw our performance." Jennifer turned to Sora's father and smiled at him "It's nice to meet you Mr. Naegino." "It's nice to meet you too, you're Jennifer Harrington correct?" "Yes." "You absolutely did wonderful out there Ms. Harrington, no wonder why Sora adores you so much." "Why thank you but you can call me Jennifer, Mr. Naegino I don't mind." "If you insist." Jennifer then turned back to Sora "Well I gotta be heading home, see you tomorrow Sora." "Bye Jennifer!" she gave the Japanese girl a small smile and began walking away, making her way back to her apartment.

The next day at the stage Sora, Mia and Anna arrived at the dressing room, greeting some fellow performers who simply brush them off and left the room. "That wasn't very nice…I wonder what their problem is?" said Mia, Sora who noticed a newspaper on the table went over and picked it up. She opened it and right there in the middle was a review of the show, causing Mia to gasp as she saw it. "It's a review of yesterday's performance…" said Anna who then took a closer look and read it out loud "In Kaleido Stage's new production of Cinderella, Layla Hamilton and Jennifer Harrington shine once more. The only major misstep of the evening was in casting three obvious amateurs in the demanding role of the fairy godmother follower…" once hearing this the girls felt horrible for almost causing a mistake during a live performance.

Later it was getting close for the second performance to start and once again it was a full house. Backstage Mia was still feeling guilty for her mistake yesterday "I almost wish we had been fired…There's no way we can recover from a review like that…" Sora patted her friend's back in comfort "Mia just forget about it!" soon Karlos, Layla, Yuri and Jennifer showed up and stopped in front of the girls. "What are you doing?" asked Karlos, the girls immediately turned around "Boss!" "This isn't about that review in the newspaper is it?" "Jennifer and I can cover your mistakes so stop moping and get your heads in the game!" Layla firmly said before walking away, before he left Yuri turned to the Harrington "Are you coming Jennifer?" "Yeah in a minute…You go on ahead Yuri…" "If you say so." the male performer left with Karlos following after, once they were gone Jennifer went over to Mia and place her hands on the girl's shoulders "Mia…Don't tell me you're still blaming yourself for what happened yesterday." "Jennifer if I hadn't made that mistake then we would have had a good review instead of an awful one!" "Listen Mia mistakes happen all the time, no one is perfect so forget about that review and focus on pulling off the Triple Illusion today, all right?" "Yeah…" "Look I gotta go, I'll see you girls when our scene comes up." the three performers nodded and watched Jennifer leave their side.

Once the show started and smoothly progressed it quickly came to the fairy godmother scene. Unfortunately to Jennifer's dismay, the girls' timing was off again and she quickly stepped in to help them with their Triple Illusion before heading backstage just as the scene ended. There once Layla was off stage, she furiously stormed up to Sora, Mia and Anna "What in the world were you thinking out there? If you can't do better than that then you have no business being on stage. This is an important scene! If you can't do it without Jennifer stepping in then resign!" the stoic Hamilton then stormed off to finish the show, Jennifer who had been watching from the side approached the girls and softly ask "Are you girls ok?" "Yeah…" "Sora?" the group turned around to find Mr. Naegino standing there with Ken. "Can I talk to you?" asked Mr. Naegino, the Japanese girl slowly nodded and left with her father with Mia, Anna and Jennifer staring after her in worry.

Later that day as the sun was setting with the help of Jennifer, Mia and Anna began searching for Sora who had been away from the stage for quite awhile. They soon found the Japanese girl slowly approaching the front and ran to meet her. "Sora!" called Mia who stopped running once reaching her along with Anna and Jennifer. "You were…Gone for so long…We thought you ran…You ok?" panted Anna, Sora slowly nodded "Yeah…You guys are sweet to worry about me…" "What did your Dad wanna tell you?" asked Jennifer, Sora lowered her gaze to the ground "Umm…" "What's wrong?" "Jennifer…He wants me to…Return with him…To Japan…" Mia immediately went to her side and grabbed Sora's hand "What did you say? You're not going are you? Well?" "What else can I do? I wanna stay! But they're so worried about me…I can't…Hurt them…My biological parents died when I was very young…I hadn't even started primary school yet…I've ever felt so abandoned…My father's cousin and wife took me in and raise me as their own daughter." "Do you think maybe that's why he doesn't understand how you feel about this place Sora? I mean…Even if he's not your real dad?" "He is now…He and my mother are great parents and I know they'd do anything for me…They've always had my best interests at heart…How could I tell them that I don't wanna go home?" "So you're lying to them? Nice way of showing your gratitude!" said Anna, Jennifer stared at Sora a bit in sadness and thought "Sora's story about her parents…It's almost like mine…"

Suddenly Ken came running out of Kaleido Stage and headed for the girls yelling "Sora! Something awful has happen to your Dad!" "What?" "He's had a heart attack!" she stared at him in shock "A heart attack?" Ken stopped in front of the girls panting "The police…Just called to let us know…The paramedics took him to Cape Merry's Hospital on 9th street." "But the show starts in an hour!" exclaimed Mia "And we're suppose to be backstage in 10 minutes!" reminded Anna, very worried about her father's well being Sora turned around and quickly ran off. Mia and Anna watched their friend in shock as she headed for the hospital, Jennifer sighed a bit and began making her way back to the stage "Mia, Anna come on we need to get ready for the show." "What? But Jennifer aren't you going to stop Sora? You know Karlos will definitely fire her for running out on the performance!" exclaimed Anna, the Harrington stopped and look back at her "Don't you think I know that? But Sora has made her choice…And there's nothing we really can do at this moment…As much as I hate to say this…The show must go on with or without Sora…" "But what about the Triple Illusion? Without Sora there's no way to form the pumpkin." said Mia "We'll just have to improvise for that part…Now come on it's time we get into costume." she and Ken began their trek back to the stage with Anna and Mia reluctantly following.

Later the evening performance was over and done with, currently Layla, Yuri, Jennifer and Karlos were making their way into the limo when they heard a voice call out "Wait!" they looked to find Sora running up to them "Came back did you?" questioned Layla, the Japanese girl stopped in front of them and bowed "I'm so sorry…" "And do you think that makes everything ok?" demanded Layla "It doesn't…I just wanted to tell you that…I'm quitting…" "I'm surprise…I thought it would take more than a disappointment to make you give up your dream…" the stoic Hamilton then climbed into the limo with Yuri and Karlos following, except for Jennifer who stood there. Confused by this Layla called out to her best friend "What are you doing Jennifer? Aren't you coming?" "Just give me a minute Layla…" she then walked over to Sora who sadly looked at her idol "I'm so sorry for disappointing you so much Jennifer…" "Oh Sora you could never disappoint me." "But Jennifer I abandoned my role! You, Mia and Ana were counting on me to be there and I-" Sora was cut off by Jennifer pulling her into a tight hug "Sora…You were only doing what your heart was telling you to do…And that was to be with your father…I understand that perfectly well…" "Jennifer…" she broke the hug and gave the Japanese girl a sweet smile "Take care Sora…I do hope we can perform together again." Jennifer then climbed into the limo which soon drove away from the stage.

Inside the moving limo, everyone was quiet during the ride until Layla spoke up "I wonder if she was even serious…" "You sound disappointed." told Yuri, she remained silent at this and looked at Jennifer once realizing she has been really quiet ever since the limo drove away from the stage "Jennifer?" "What is it Layla?" "Tell me what's bothering and don't go and say it's nothing, I know you." "I was just thinking of how Sora and me are kind of alike." "What do you mean?" "Ah…Forget what I said just now…" "Jennifer…" "You sure you don't want to talk about it Jennifer?" asked Yuri, the Harrington slowly nodded and looked out the window "I'm sure Yuri…Besides…If I start talking about it…It'll only make me sad…" Yuri stared at her a bit in worry before nodding and began looking out the window also. Knowing what Jennifer said meant, all Layla did was tiredly sigh and close her eyes thus continuing to ride in the limo in silence.

The next day at the stage, everyone was getting ready for the first performance today. In the back stage area Jennifer was stretching her arms and legs when Layla took this time to walk up to her best friend "Jennifer…" "Yes what is it?" "Can we talk?" she stopped her stretching and turned to Layla "All right…What do you want to talk about?" "About what you said last night in the limo…" "Layla…" "Just answer this question…When you didn't want to talk about a certain sad subject, you were talking about your parents weren't you?" "…Yeah…" "Jennifer…" "Look can we not talk about this right now? We do have a show you know." "I know that…But I want to remind you that you can always talk to me about anything after all we're best friends." "I know…Thanks Layla…" "I'm so sorry!" the women turned around and were a bit surprise to see Sora bowing to Karlos. "I don't want to quit Kaleido Stage, I never did! Please give me another chance, I won't make anymore mistakes I promise!" said Sora "That's fine but that's not the only people you should be apologizing to." told Karlos, Sora looked up at this then at the best friends. "Ever since we've opened none of our audiences seen what you girls can do yet and they deserve your best performance." told Layla, Sora stared at her a bit surprise before firmly nodding "Right!" "Well you better hurry and change Sora we're about to start soon." said Jennifer, the Japanese girl smiled and ran off to the dressing room to change. Once she left, the Harrington turned to her best friend "You know…That's the first I've ever seen you act a little nice to someone that's not me." "Oh be quiet and get ready for the show." "Whatever you say Layla." and later during the show, to everyone's delight they saw Mia, Anna and Sora perform a successful Triple Illusion without no trouble at all. In turn once the girls and Jennifer made their way back stage at the end of the scene, the Harrington hugged the three performers in happiness "Oh! You girls did it! I'm so proud of you, all that hard work finally paid off!" "Thanks Jennifer!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"The current production of Cinderella at Kaleido Stage is a must see, especially charming is a trio of newcomers taken on the role of the fairy godmother followers. The scene is truly magical, the highlight of the performance! We can't wait to see what the future holds for them! Amazing!" exclaimed Sora who had just read the current review in the newspaper, quickly put it down and ran out of the dormitory. She ran across the sandy shore cheering in happiness for her and her friends' success. Sora couldn't help but happily giggle and she continued to run along the shore. It soon ended when she suddenly tripped and face planted into the sand. Once getting her face out of the sand, Sora looked behind her to find an adorable baby seal laying there at her feet "A baby seal? But…Why isn't he…Moving?" the Japanese girl gently picked up the mammal who still didn't move. Sora looked around before putting the seal underneath her shirt and ran back towards the dormitory. "He must have gotten separated from his kin…Poor baby…" Sora said out loud, she soon arrived at the complex and quickly sneaked back to her room.

There she gently placed the baby seal on a soft mat and quickly changed her clothes. Kaleido Stage's own spirit; The Fool just stared at the mammal as it lay there while Sora began making her leave "I'll be back in a little bit! Can you watch him for me Fool?" the spirit looked at her "Huh? Watch him do what?" but Sora had already left her room and Fool turned his attention back to the baby seal "What am I suppose to do with you? I know! I'll read your fortune!" while Fool was using his magic to do a fortune, the baby seal opened his eyes and once seeing Fool, the cute mammal thought he was food and tried to eat him. As Fool tried to escape Anna and Mia soon entered their Japanese friend's room "Good morning Sora!" but their friend was nowhere in sight along with the baby seal who had chased after Fool. "Sora?" called Mia only to have no one reply, Anna sighed and rubbed her stomach "I'm starving! Let's go see if she's in the dining hall." the girls then left the room but as they closed the door, it wasn't shut tightly and it opened back up just a crack. The baby seal who got tired trying to eat the Fool soon left Sora's room.

It turns out that the Japanese girl is really in the dining hall getting some food. She had just endured Charlotte and Julie's gossip about the current review. Soon Ken arrived at the hall and approached the Japanese girl, greeting her "Good morning Sora!" "Oh! Good morning Ken! How's it going?" the stage manager then noticed that she was just staring at some of the food "Uh…Is something bothering you?" "Uh…No…I'm just not sure what he would like that's all." Ken froze in his place as he heard this and shakily asked "H-He?" "Yeah…I was running on the beach this morning and there's where I found him. He's adorable! Kind of round and almost as wide as he is tall, but he's not very tall and he's very hungry!" Ken who was trying to imagine the guy Sora was talking about, pathetically said "That's the kind of man you're attracted to?" "What? I'm not talking about a guy silly, he's a seal!" "A seal?" the stage manager then got close to Sora and said in a hush voice "Please don't tell me you brought him home with you?" "Well…I…" "You're kidding right?" "You see he was really hungry and all alone, I couldn't just leave him!" Ken sighed and muttered "This is bad…" "Did I do something wrong?" the stage manager grabbed Sora's hand and began dragging her off "Come with me…"

The two had gone off to the supermarket and gotten some fresh fish for the baby seal. Though as Sora returned to her room with the fish in hand, she discovered that the mammal was gone. The Japanese girl then ran over to the training facility where she found Ken waiting outside and approached him "He isn't where I left him!" "Maybe he went back to the ocean." "He couldn't have!" "You aren't looking for this little guy are you?" both Sora and Ken turned to find Jennifer and Sarah leaning against the side of the building with the baby seal at their feet. "We found him wandering around on his own." told Jennifer, Sora smiled in relief and ran towards them exclaiming "Jonathan!" Ken stared after her in surprise "What? That's not good! She's already given it a name?" soon Sora was feeding the baby seal now named Jonathan while Sarah watered his body with a hose. "What a surprise! I found him tottering down the hallway early this morning and Jennifer had just come around the corner at the same time." told Sarah, Jennifer chuckled a bit as she tossed Sora's shirt that Jonathan happened to be wearing when the women found him "You and him have the same taste in clothes." "I'm sorry he startled you both." "That's all right…But isn't he just the cutest little thing?" "Umm…Sarah…I don't suppose there's anyway I could keep him is there?" the Kaleido Stage diva looked at Sora in surprise "Keep him?" "I thought we'd agreed that you feed and let him go?" questioned Ken "But I was thinking…Jonathan could be a perfect mascot for Kaleido Stage if we trained him…I think he'd like that…" said Sora who then gasp once she realized something "Oh no! I'm late for lessons!" "Oh that's right…If I don't hurry Layla will be mad at me for being late to our practice…" muttered Jennifer, Sora looked at the Kaleido Stage diva "Ms. Sarah could watch Jonathan for awhile? Just until I get back from class please?" without waiting for her answer Sora dashed off to class, Jennifer looked at Sarah and Ken giving them a shrug before also taking her leave.

Later in the practice hall Mia, Anna and Sora were in really good moods after reading the review in the newspaper and were pumped to work on the Triple Illusion some more. Before they could do that everyone heard a loud scream from outside and left the room to investigate. In the foyer they found Layla pressing her back against the pillar staring at Jonathan a bit frightened who Jennifer immediately picked up and held in her arms. "W-What is that thing? Get it away!" "Relax Layla it's just a baby seal…" "What are you doing Jennifer? Put it down this instant!" Sora quickly went over to the two top performers "Oh no Jonathan!" all the performers looked at each other in confusion while Jennifer handed Jonathan over to Sora who then turned to Layla "I found him at the beach. I'm sorry if he frightened you…I'm taking care of him for awhile…" "Do you have rocks in your head?" questioned Layla "No I…He was hungry…I couldn't just leave him…" "You can barely keep up with your duties as is, what makes you think you can take care of a wild animal?" "But Layla!" "Take him back to where you found him!" and with that Layla stormed off to continue practicing and the other performers followed her example. Leaving just Mia, Anna and Jennifer with Sora who sadly stared down at Jonathan in her arms.

At the beach Sora, Mia, Anna and Jennifer along with Ken had gathered at the sandy shore and watched Jonathan explore a bit. "I'm sorry…I just took my eyes off of him for just a second…" said Ken "It's all right…Don't worry about it…" said Sora "He wouldn't be allowed on stage anyway…Seems Kaleido Stage has never had an animal act…The stage hands said that's just Karlos' policy." "Guess we should be glad this happened while he was away in Seattle." said Anna, Mia went over to her Japanese friend and stood by her side "You can't keep him Sora…" "Yeah…But he's still so tiny…I'm afraid he won't make it out there all on his own…" "He maybe small but he sure can eat a lot…You could never afford to feed him anyway…" told Ken "But I'll be getting performer's wages from now on…And starting tomorrow I'm getting a part time job!" said Sora in turn the others looked at her in surprise "What?" "But Sora…When would you have the time? You've still got lessons, chores and being on stage." said Jennifer "Sora…You heard what Karlos said…We all have to be in top form!" reminded Mia, Sora sat down on the sand "I know that…And I won't let you guys down…But after my parents died…I was all by myself too…Sometimes I wondered where I would be if no one had taken me in…So you see…I cannot just abandon him here…I'm sorry…I know I…I know I said I would let him go but I can't! He's my responsibility now…" the Japanese girl then stood up from the sand and turned to her friends "Don't worry you guys I won't let Jonathan get in the way of our stage work." with that said the others looked at each other feeling very worried on just how Sora is going to do this.

Later in the week Sora has been working non stop, not once taking a break from performing, her part time job, lessons and chores. It soon ended badly when Sora returned to the dormitory after coming from her part time job and collapsed right in her room. In turn it made a huge noise immediately bringing Mia, Anna and Sarah out of their rooms to check up on the Japanese girl. Sarah was currently watching over Jonathan in the bathroom while Anna and Mia were confronting Sora on her problem. As the girls talked they soon heard a voice say "I was wondering what all the commotion was." they turned around to find Jennifer standing there, leaning against the door way in her pajamas. "Jennifer, what are you doing here?" asked Sora "My apartment is being redone so I'm currently staying with Sarah for the time being…So I overheard your conversation about Jonathan and trying balance everything out…He's eating a lot isn't he?" "Yeah…" "Which is why we're going to divide up the work and hopefully bring more fish in for Jonathan." said Mia "Or how about this girls?" they looked to see that Sarah was holding up a flyer while carrying Jonathan in her other arm. Anna took the flyer and looked at it "A juggling contest?" "That's right! It's a competition they hold every year there at the stage on the beach. And all the best jugglers come from all over the world just show off their skills." told Sarah "Says here the contest is just three days away…" Mia began reading the info "Those who wish to enter must register by 9 A.M on the day of the contest…Is this open to anyone?" "I think so…" replied Sarah

Sora took a closer look at the flyer and exclaim "Amazing!" "What is it?" asks the girls "First prize could buy Jonathan's food for a month!" "Sounds like that solves all your problems." said Jennifer, the girls nodded and then Sora realized something "Oh…There's just one thing…" "What's the matter?" wondered Anna "Is there something wrong?" ask Mia "It's just that…I've never juggled before in my life…" admitted Sora, the others just looked at her in surprise until Anna just simply waved it off "Well that's no big deal!" "Anna is right, you girls still have three whole days." said Jennifer "Really? You think I can learn?" wondered Sora "I don't see why not! Like they say when you've got nothing you've got nothing to lose right?" said Sarah, Mia and Anna quickly turned to the diva "Ms. Sarah!" "Uh…I mean…You'll do great!" the girls then turned back to their friend "We can teach you!" "I'm ready!"

The next day behind the practice facility, the girls had gathered together and while Mia and Anna were training Sora on how to juggle Ken showed up and ran over to the group with a flyer in hand "Sora! I've got great news! There's a juggling contest coming up! And if you win first prize you'll be able to feed Jonathan…" he trailed off once seeing the three friends already practicing their juggling together "Oh…Guess she heard about it already…" the stage manager then quickly left before any of the girls could spot him. While the girls juggled Jennifer and Marion were sitting by small pool filled with water, watching Jonathan swim around a bit. Soon the three performers were picking up their juggling pace "Faster come on!" said Anna "If I could do something easy like this!" said Sora who then upon her back as she was hit in the forehead by a ball. Mia stared down at her friend while continuing to juggle "This is going to be harder than I thought…" "Did you know there used to be a cast member here that was fired when Karlos found out she was keeping a dog?" asked Marion, Sora quickly sat up at this "Huh?" "My Dad says he's coming back from Seattle soon, he'll be here Monday morning." Mia and Anna stopped their juggling and looked at each other in worry. "Well now…Will you look at this!" said Jennifer who was watching Jonathan balance a red ball upon his nose "Yay! That's awesome!" exclaimed Marion, the Harrington held out her hand to the seal "all right Jonathan…Can you toss me the ball?" the seal complied and toss the ball which Jennifer easily caught.

Marion began clapping excitedly "Good job Jonathan! You're more coordinated than Sora is! Not like that's so hard!" Mia, Anna and Sora watched as Marion tried to get Jonathan to balance a ball on his nose again but he simply continued on swimming. "Aw…Come on…Just one more time!" said Marion, the seal just simply ignored her and continued doing his own thing. "Guess he only does it when he feels like it." told Jennifer "I never knew a seal could be such a diva." admitted Mia "No doubt." said Anna, Sora immediately picked up the juggling balls "If Jonathan can do this, then so can I!" the Japanese performer then threw the balls up in the air and tried to juggling but failed miserable. In result the balls fell to the ground while two hit Anna and Mia on the head, Jennifer began to laugh at this "Ha, ha, ha! Oh Sora you can be so silly sometimes! Ha, ha, ha!" Anna looked at her Japanese friend and sigh before looking back at the others "I guess it's time to pull out Plan B." the girls looked at each other then at her and wondered just what Anna meant by Plan B.

2 days later and the day of the juggling competition had arrived, currently Sarah, Ken, Marion and Jennifer who had Jonathan in her lap were in the audience watching the juggling competitors. While watching one couple juggle Marion crossed her arms over her chest "They're ok I guess…" "It's going to be tough for Sora's team to beat." said Sarah, soon the couple's performance was over and the MC of the contest said "Our next contestants are three lovely young ladies, please welcome The Juggling Sisters!" "I thought it was never gonna be their turn." said Marion as she clapped for Sora, Anna and Mia who made their way onstage "I just hope they do well." admitted Jennifer, suddenly Sora tripped and a lot of juggling balls fell out her costume pocket. Jonathan who saw the balls began squirming in Jennifer's grasp "H-Hey!" Sarah, Marion and Ken looked at the Harrington. "Jennifer what's wrong?" asked Marion "J-Jonathan please stay still!" but it was no use the seal got free from her grasp and jumped towards the stage. Once there Jonathan began tossing some balls into the audience. This caught the four completely off guard but soon Ken, Sarah and Jennifer sighed in relief while Marion stood up in her seat and began clapping "Bravo Jonathan!" Jennifer soon noticed Sora staring at someone and turned around in her seat. There in the far back of the audience she spotted Karlos standing there, not looking happy at all "Uh oh…That's not good…"

Later once the whole competition was over and the sun was setting over the horizon, the group returned to Kaleido Stage. There Sora and Jennifer were confronting an unhappy Karlos in his office. "I don't allow anyone to take part time jobs or keep pets it draws your focus from the show I hope that's understood, you can go now Sora." "But it hasn't affected my performance in the show in fact when you were gone-" "This matter is not up for discussion!" "I won't abandon him!" "You won't?" "I can't! He would've died without me!" "Then I guess you've made the decision to quit Kaleido Stage." "I'm not quitting!" "You're not?" soon Karlos' desk phone began to ring which he turned his attention to and answered "Hello?" "Sorry to interrupt sir…But you have a guest…" "I'll be with him shortly…" Karlos looked back at Sora "This conversation is over!" "But you're not listening!" "That's enough Sora!" "My performance in the show has nothing to do with Jonathan!" "Listen I'm only saying this once more. Every time you spent taking care of that seal is time you should be spending at practice understood?" "But I've been practicing harder than ever and people have been taking notice! And I know you've seen the latest reviews! Kaleido Stage is about making people happy but if that has to come at Jonathan's expense…Then I can't help feeling that there's something wrong with this place…I can't say what's wrong exactly…It just feels wrong to make a trade like that…That's all…"

Jennifer looked at Sora and smiled a bit, liking that she told the truth right in front of their boss. Soon they heard a knock upon the door, Karlos took his gaze off Sora and towards the door "Come in." It opened to reveal Jean, Marion holing Jonathan, Ken, Anna, Mia and Sarah. "Karlos." greeted Marion's father "Jean…" Sora turned around and was surprised to see her friends standing there "Jonathan…Everyone…" "Karlos…I remember very well on why you let Sora join Kaleido Stage in the first place." said Jean "I've regretted it ever since." Marion's father chuckled at this "Well…How about this? We keep the seal here as sort of a company mascot?" "Yeah…And Sora will quit her part time job and you won't have to worry about it affecting her stage work which I will be keeping an eye on." said Jennifer, Karlos tiredly sigh "Oh fine! Just take care of it Jean and Jennifer you better keep your word!" Jean then turned to Marion and went down to her level "first we'll build a giant swimming pool for him ok?" "Thank you Dad!" while everyone was celebrating Jennifer looked back at Karlos and smirked at him "Thank you Karlos." "Oh you be quiet Jennifer and wipe that smirk off your face!" the Harrington simply just laugh before going over to the group and joining in on their little celebration.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was a sunny day at Kaleido Stage and the girls headed over to Jean who was standing by Jonathan's tank. "Wow! So this is his tank?" asked Sora, Jean smiled at the girls as they stopped in front of the tank "Karlos gave me instructions about where it could be and what it would look like. And it looks like Jonathan is enjoying what we came up with." "It's amazing!" the girls watched as Marion and Jennifer were on inside walkway playing with the baby seal, Mia leaned on the railing "It's so big!" "Looks like he's enjoying himself out there!" said Anna, Sora then began calling the baby seal's name along with her friends but he simply went underwater, ignoring their call. "He snubbed us!" Anna playfully said "The ingrate!" Mia jokingly said "I guess things will be different now that he's not living in my bathtub." said Sora, Jennifer then looked up once she heard an engine in the distance. She spotted a fellow Kaleido Stage worker riding up on his scooter with a cooler strapped behind him. The Harrington turned to Jean's daughter "Marion…Vince has come back from the market already." Marion smiled and looked at Jonathan who surfaced "Did you hear that? It's lunchtime!" the blond girl then ran and jumped over the tank wall, she then headed towards the approaching Kaleido Stage worker "Vince hurry up, he's really hungry!" she soon stopped as a yellow taxi pass by and stared at the red headed girl who was in the backseat "That girl…"

Inside Kaleido Stage at Karlos' office, he and Ken were meeting with the red headed girl that arrived. "Ok Rosetta…Your provisional contract is for one week…After I see you perform I'll make the decision whether to keep you on here or not…I hope you understand this is our standard business practice." informed Karlos, right outside his office Mia, Anna and Sora were eavesdropping on the whole conversation. "Who is she?" asked Anna "Don't you know? She's that Diablo prodigy from France." answered Mia "She's great! A Diablo genius!" exclaimed Sora only to have her friends quickly cover her mouth, shushing her. Then the door to the office was open up by Ken who looked at the kneeling form of the girls "Sora? Hmm? What are you doing?" "Uh…We were just passing by and we tripped! We weren't eavesdropping pr anything!" Mia and Anna sighed at Sora's mistake and patted her on the back "Just stop…" Ken opened the door a little bit wider "Sora…Karlos wants you." "W-What for you?" "He wants you to take care of a special guest we'll have staying with us this week." "Really?"

Sora got up from the ground and entered the office to find the red headed girl named Rosetta standing next to Karlos. "This is Sora Naegino…She'll take you to your room so you can get some rest after your long trip." told the Kaleido Stage owner "That's right! I'm Sora, nice to meet you!" Rosetta turned to Karlos and held out her hand "Well then I'll see you later." he grabbed her hand and shook it "I'll look forward to it." as Rosetta began making her way toward the door Sora held out her hand "This is so exciting! I'm a huge fan of yours I-" the red headed girl pass without shaking her hand "Nice to meet you…" both Mia and Anna also held out their hands towards Rosetta "Hi I'm Mia!" "And I'm Anna!" she also pass the two without shaking their hands "Nice to meet you…" the red headed girl then stopped and turned around "Is Layla Hamilton here?" Oh! She won't be here until closer to show time." answered Mia "Oh right…What about Jennifer Harrington?" "Yeah Jennifer is here, you'll probably bump into her soon since she hangs around here a lot." said Anna "Good to know." "Your luggage has been taken to your room for you." told Ken "I'll take you to your room ok? Right this way Rosetta!" said Sora who then guided Rosetta away from the office and out of Kaleido Stage.

Over at the dormitory Sora was currently showing Rosetta her room, the Japanese girl opened the door to the balcony "So this is where you'll be staying Rosetta! The sea breeze is really nice so I'll just leave this open." as she began making her leave Rosetta called out to her "Sora…" "Huh, yes?" "Am I to understand that Karlos has put me in the same kind of room he gives to his students?" "Uh…" 'I'm the youngest Diablo world champion ever. And I've won that title for the pass four years running." "I know! I watched your competitions on TV! You were really incredible! And I remember when they interviewed you, you were so poised even though you were so young that's why I remember what you said! You're French born, you've been doing Diablo since you could walk and you traveled from circus to circus all by yourself!" "I'm Belgian! I was born in Belgium and I started studying in France! How are you suppose to be my care taker when you know nothing about me?" "Oh uh…You must be tired so I'll be leaving you now…" with that Sora left the Diablo star's room, once closing the door behind her she sighed and lean her back against it. Anna and Mia happened to be standing a few feet away, watching their friend "So how was it Sora?" asked Anna, she looked at her friends and gave them a sheepish smile while rubbing the back of her head.

Later that day nearing the performance of Cinderella, backstage Rosetta was in her own dressing room already in costume. She silently stood in front of the mirror with her eyes closed. Soon Charlotte and Julie showed up in her room asking if Rosetta could teach them Diablo. The Diablo champion simply just brush them off and continued meditating until it was her time to perform. Out on stage while Rosetta was performing her Diablo, some of the audience members were not enjoying the show and some of the children were beginning to get restless. Karlos who was watching from the audience didn't like what he saw one bit and headed back stage just as Rosetta's performance was over. The red headed girl then made her way backstage where the performers began complimenting her. Soon Yuri, Layla and Jennifer approached the young girl who smiled once seeing the three. "Rosetta welcome to Kaleido Stage." greeted Layla "Oh Layla! How was my performance on stage?" "It was absolutely perfect." "Not a single mistake." said Yuri, Rosetta then turned to the Harrington "And what did you think Jennifer?" "A flawless performance, you did some amazing moves out there Rosetta I'm impressed." "That means a lot to me from the both of you." "I'm going to enjoy watching you this week." told Layla "I'm going to be around a lot longer than that." Rosetta confidently said, Yuri chuckled a bit "You sound really sure of that." "I am!" Karlos who was standing a few feet away from them with Ken called out to the girl "Rosetta! I'd like to talk to you, do you have a minute?" she looked at the boss, confidently grinning "Oh you wanna extend my contract right?" "Actually I was going to terminate your contact." Layla, Yuri and Jennifer chose to walk away at this time to let Rosetta talk with their boss a bit more privately. "Oh…You want me to do a routine that's more suitable to little kids?" asked the Diablo machine "I'm going to pay you for the rest of this week but…I don't want to see you on stage again." told Karlos, not liking what she heard Rosetta glared at the boss "I will want to hear your explanation for this in my dressing room!" with that she ran off with Karlos and Ken following after. Sora who had been watching the whole thing turned to Jennifer who happened to be standing next to her "Jennifer…If you don't mind could you please come with me?" "Huh? But where?" the Japanese girl didn't answer but grabbed her arm and began running off pulling Jennifer along "W-Wait, Sora where are we going?" Mia quickly turned around just in time to see the girls run off and yell "Wait Sora, Jennifer it's time to go on!"

Once stopping right outside of Rosetta's room, Jennifer and Sora could hear Karlos talking to the red headed girl from inside "Rosetta…It goes without saying that you're very skilled at Diablo, that's why I invited you." the girls looked at each other and quietly entered the room without interrupting Karlos' lecture "But I watched the audience while you were on stage performing today and I didn't see a single person who is enjoying your show." "Then I will just rearrange my routine to make it more interesting." "Rosetta I'm sorry but-" Rosetta pounded her fist on the table in anger "I didn't make a single mistake! It was a perfect performance! It's not my fault your audience is too stupid to appreciate what I do!" "So basically you're blaming this on the audience? You're the one that's right and they're wrong, is that it?" questioned Jennifer "Jennifer…You know that I've been the world champion for four consecutive years! I'm better at this than anyone else!" "Yes but Kaleido Stage can only stay alive as long as the audience keeps coming back." "And I've got the feeling they wouldn't come back to see you." told Karlos "That's stupid! Why wouldn't they?" demanded Rosetta "Because this is not an athletics' competition, where you show off your skills." told Jennifer, Sora tried to say something but Karlos immediately cut her off "I'll explain this to your booking agent." the boss then turned to his stage manager "Ken…When you have time you should take Rosetta over to Marine Park." "But why?" Rosetta glared at Karlos with tears running down her face "Don't treat me like I'm a child!" she then ran out of her dressing room and down the hall with Sora calling after her "Rosetta!"

As the red headed girl left Ken turned to Karlos "But Boss…Are you sure you don't want to give her another chance before you send her away?" "I'm sure, she's not a performer." Sora turned to the boss "But…She only did one show…" "One show is enough sometimes." "But Boss she needs a second chance! She can do better if you just let her try!" "Fine…I'll give Rosetta another shot on one condition." "Yes! What is it?" "You do the show with her." "W-What's that?" "I'm giving you six days to turn her around in that time you need to use your talent to make her act worth watching." Jennifer face palmed at this and muttered "Unbelievable…" "I-I didn't mean…" started Sora only to have Karlos firmly tell her "Six days." B-But Boss! Wait! I n-never done Diablo in my l-life!" the boss simply just left without another word, and once hearing the announcement from backstage Jennifer sighed and grabbed Sora's arm "Come on, the show is starting!" the Harrington ran down the hall while dragging a dazed Sora behind her.

Later once the performance was over, all the performers headed back to the dormitory for a well deserve rest. Currently in Sora's room she had just told Mia and Anna what happened in Rosetta's dressing room. "Why did you just tell him you can't?" asked Mia "Yeah I'm sure he'll understand." said Anna "But I've got to try." said Sora, Jennifer who was also in the room couldn't help but sigh a bit "Of course you do Sora…" "Look I'm gonna check up on Rosetta…Be right back…" the girls watch as Sora left her room and simply just sat there in silence when they heard, the Japanese girl scream. They quickly ran out of the room to find out what's wrong but before the girls could ask Sora what happened, she had already darted downstairs and furiously knocked on Sarah's door "Ahhh! Ms. Sarah! We've got a problem! Come quick, come quick!" the diva immediately opened her door "What's going on?" "Rosetta has gone missing!" "That is a problem!" "Do you think she could have left for home?" "What, at this hour?" Sora then darted off and began searching for the Diablo girl. While she frantically searched around the hall, Sarah who was also helping on the search stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the button on the side to open the doors. There inside was the missing Rosetta who was simply leaning her back against the wall "Sora I've found her!" told Sarah, the Japanese girl immediately stopped in her tracks and ran over to where the diva is. She smiled at the Diablo girl while panting "Oh!…I'm so glad!" all Rosetta did was stare at the Japanese performer in confusion.

The next day Sora had informed Rosetta on what Karlos informed her to do and currently the two were in the practice room, preparing for their training today. Right now Rosetta was simply watching Sora as she was trying to do Diablo, not liking what she was seeing Rosetta scoffed "What was Karlos thinking, pairing me with you? You think that you can do this?" "Well…I'll never find out unless I try will I? You know it's weird but when I get all worried about making mistakes I end up having a worst performance, than I just let myself have some fun." "I don't go on stage to make mistakes! What's the point of doing it when you can't do it flawlessly?" "There's no way I'll ever be as good as you are so the least I can do is be entertaining. I mean I can't be perfect so I'll just have to do my best!" "Working hard?" the girls looked to see Jennifer approach them with Ken by her side carrying a box. "Jennifer, Ken!" exclaimed Sora "I brought you these just in case you needed extras." said Ken who showed the girls the box filled with Diablo sets. "Wow! Where did you get all those?" asked Sora "I stocked up on them a little while ago, I was wondering what I will do with all these." told Ken, Rosetta then crossed her arms over her chest and looked the other way "So this is all my fault?" realizing his mistake Ken turned to the red headed girl "I didn't mean it like that!" "The audience didn't enjoy my show so I'm out! I get it, all right?" "But Rosetta, I didn't mean-!" the Diablo champion didn't want to hear anymore of this and left out of the room. Jennifer, Sora and Ken simply just watch her leave "I don't think we can do this." said Sora "If you can't it's not your fault…" said Jennifer, the Japanese girl curiously looked at her "What?" "You know she was just nine years old when she won her first championship. And she was five when she started studying Diablo, I don't know about you Sora but when I was five I was crazy about Kaleido Stage in fact I couldn't get enough of it." "I was too…" "And I don't think Rosetta has ever had the chance to appreciate as a member of the audience." Sora looked back at the way Rosetta left and smiled "Jennifer, Ken I've got an idea!"

The following day at the dormitory Rosetta packed up her things and left the place by taxi. As the vehicle drove away Sarah who had been watching turned to Mia and Anna giving them a thumbs up "She's leaving!" "Ok!" said Anna, Mia then pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number before putting the device to her ear "Ken…" Out on the road Ken quickly had Vince drive him up to Rosetta's taxi which automatically pulled into a gas station once he convinced the driver to pull over. Rosetta got out from the vehicle and walked over Ken who was getting off Vince's bike "What do you want?" "Sora wanted you to see her show before you leave." "Do I have to?" Ken placed a helmet upon the girl's head "Sure do!" she growled under her breath but let Vince drive her all the way back to Kaleido Stage. There as they pulled up to the stage Rosetta spotted a crowd gathered around Jonathan's tank. Marion who was in the back of the crowd spotted the Diablo star and ran over to her "Rosetta, you're just in time!" she got off the bike while taking off the helmet and handing it back to Vince "I can't stay for long." with that said Marion grabbed Rosetta's wrist and dragged her to the front of the crowd. There they stopped right next to Jennifer who smiled at them "Hey! Glad you made it!" "Jennifer…" said Rosetta "Just watch closely Rosetta." she slowly nodded and looked to find Sora trying to get the Diablo out of the water. Unfortunately Jonathan tossed it high into the air and is began making its way down Sora ran to catch it. She successfully jumped up and caught it by using the sticks to her dismay, she jumped too far from the catwalk and landed straight into the water. In turn Jonathan stole the Diablo from Sora once she fell into the water and everyone laughed at this silly display. The Japanese girl surfaced and playfully glared at the seal "Jonathan!" she quickly made her way back onto the catwalk and began chasing Jonathan around only to slip and fall quite a bit.

Rosetta looked at the audience who began laughing once more and cheering for Sora and Jonathan. Marion noticed this and said "Weird isn't it?" Rosetta looked at her in wonder "What is?" "When I watched her perform I get really nervous she'll make a mistake. I'm always on the edge of my seat it's always so exciting to watch her because she does make a lot of mistakes but every once in awhile she pulls off a trick and it's unbelievable like magic!" Jennifer turned to Rosetta and gave her smile before patting her head "You should go watch her perform tonight see what you think." "Watch Sora perform?" Jennifer nodded and went back to watching Sora and Jonathan perform for the crowd. That night during the fairy godmother scene Rosetta was watching Sora, Mia, Anna and Jennifer perform. She carefully watched the audience as they happily cheered for the girls "It's amazing!…Nothing like the performances that I give…Sora…" soon the scene had ended and the girls quickly made their way backstage. Once there they stopped and took a break only to have Rosetta approach them "Sora!" "Rosetta! You came to see the show!" "I want to perform Diablo with you if you're still interested!" "I'd like that! You can do you act perfectly and I'll just have to try my best so…What do you think about that huh?" "That's going to be one interesting routine." said Anna, panting a bit "But it's never gonna work unless Sora gets a little more comfortable doing Diablo." said Mia "Well then let's get this started!" exclaimed Sora

4 days quickly passed and Sora had been practicing non stop with the help of Rosetta which in turn they made Karlos' deadline. That night at the stage Jean had built a little set that Sora and Rosetta were going to perform on. And once they were in their costumes, ready to go and the audience were all in their seats the girls made their way onstage to start their Diablo battle. Once it commenced the audience excitedly cheered as the girls went all out tossing the Diablo back and forth trying to land it in their baskets. During the battle as Sora toss the Diablo Rosetta was about to catch it when she slipped and fell on her butt. "Rosetta made a mistake!" exclaimed Mia who was watching from backstage along with the other performers. Luckily Rosetta caught the Diablo with her stick and tossed it hard towards Sora. The Diablo soon ricochet off the platform's rope and hit Sora in the back of the head which launched the Diablo right into Rosetta's basket and won her the battle. "They did it!" said Anna "Sora is amazing!" cheered Mia, Jennifer smiled while giggling "She sure is!" she soon giggled some more as she saw Sora's blushing face once Rosetta gave her a kiss on the cheek "Oh that Sora!"

The next day at the front of Kaleido Stage Sora and the others had gathered to bid Rosetta good bye. "So you're leaving anyway?" asked Sora to Rosetta "Yeah…I'll miss you Sora." "The show yesterday was a great success thanks to you." said Layla "It was a thrill to watch your act." said Yuri "Did you learn anything during your stay here Rosetta?" asked Jennifer "Well… Yeah I really learned a lot here in my week at Kaleido Stage." told Rosetta "I really wish you could have stayed here with us a little longer." said Karlos "I can't." "Are you getting back at me for last week?" "No I just want to go home and get in touch with why I love Diablo again." Karlos sighed at this and Sora said "Cheer up! You look like your girlfriend just broke up with you Boss!" "Yeah…That kind of how it feels…" Jennifer was about to laugh at this if it weren't for Yuri and Layla pinching her sides to keep her quiet. They soon waved good bye to Rosetta who climbed into the taxi and left in order to renew her love for Diablo, so that all of her fans can enjoy her performances to come.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Today at Kaleido Stage it happened to be the last performance day for Cinderella. Right now Mia, Anna and Sora had just finished getting into their costume and were leaving the dressing room. "So how about it guys? Can I throw a monkey pose at the end of the show today?" asked Anna "No way!" told Mia, Anna sighed and turned to walk away only to run into a huge bouquet of lovely red roses that Ken happened to be holding "Oh sorry!" "This is your chance! Quick before the moment passes, say something funny!" thought Anna who then pulled her face out of the bouquet and said "That's ok! Cause…Oh…" she then fell to her knees, feeling mad at herself since she couldn't come up with a joke "Oh it's no use! I'm awful…" Mia then put a rose in Anna's mouth and swooned "I thought it was funny~!" "That is one enormous bouquet!" said Sora, Ken smiled and nodded "Yeah I'm taking it to Layla and Jennifer…Layla's father; Mr. Hamilton had it sent over." "Oh! Does he come here often?" "No he's usually too busy to come visit." "Yeah he's the founder of the Hamilton Hotels chain." told Mia "Hamilton Hotels? I think we have one of those in Japan." said Sora, Anna got up from the floor with the rose in her mouth "Yeah they're all over the place!" "Well…I better give these to Layla and Jennifer." said Ken who walked away from the girls, Sora watched as he left and smiled "He must be really nice giving a bouquet to Layla even Jennifer…She must be really close to the Hamiltons…"

Meanwhile in the front lobby Karlos was with Layla's father staring at the Cinderella poster hanging on the wall. "I think Cinderella is going to be one of her signature roles." told Karlos "How's the box office sales?" asked Mr. Hamilton "It's the best seller the Kaleido Stage has ever had." "Jennifer is the fairy godmother correct? Who are these followers of hers?" "They passed the auditions this year." Mr. Hamilton stared at the pictures of Sora, Mia and Anna before looking up to see Layla and Jennifer approaching him. "Hello Father." greeted Layla "There you are Layla! Congratulations on your play along with Jennifer I imagine you played the fairy godmother quite wonderfully." "Thank you Mr. Hamilton." said Jennifer "Thank you for the beautiful flowers you gave us." said Layla and her best friend nodded in agreement "Yes thank you again." "They're nowhere near as beautiful as both you and Jennifer are Layla." "Do you think that this time, you'll have a chance to see my show while you're in town?" "I don't have the time…I'm having a party tonight with some big business people make sure you and Jennifer come by after your performance." "We will…" Mr. Hamilton then turned to the Kaleido Stage owner "Karlos I'd like you to escort them." "It'll be my pleasure." "And invite Jennifer's followers would you?" this happen to surprise Layla who then asked "Why are you inviting them?" "It'll be good exposure for them besides you won't be a Kaleido star forever neither will Jennifer. I'm keeping my eye on the future of this place." Mr. Hamilton then went over and pecked Layla and Jennifer on the cheek "See you girls tonight." Layla's father then walked away with Layla, Karlos and Jennifer watching him. Once he was out of sight Karlos said "He's a very busy man…" "Yeah…He's so busy that he's never seen one of my performances all the way through…" Jennifer looked at her best friend, feeling a bit sad for her. She then wrapped her arm around Layla and comfortingly rubbed her shoulder "Hey…You gonna be ok?" "Yeah…" "Come on let's head backstage…The show is about to start soon…" "Yeah you're right…Let's go…"

Later during the show once the fairy godmother scene passed Sora, Mia and Anna quickly ran backstage happy about their performance. "We did it perfectly again!" exclaimed Mia, the girls soon stopped and took a break. "It's like they couldn't wait for the transformation scene to come! This is the greatest audience you guys!" said Sora "The act would be even better if I added a prac fall at the end." said Anna "It would not!" told Mia "I'm with Mia!" said Sora, Anna simply shrugged "I had to try!" they soon began laughing only to cease when Layla stopped in front of them "Just because you had a few good performances don't think you can start messing around!" "We won't!" said the girls who then watched Layla walk away to prepare for the next scene. "But we did a perfect show today." said Mia "Looks like she's just in a rotten mood." told Anna "Maybe she's just a little more tense because her dad is in the audience this time." Jennifer then approached the girls at this time "Sorry to break it to you Sora but he left before the show had even started." "Oh…I didn't know that…" "You three!" Mia, Anna and Sora looked to find Karlos standing there "Yes Boss?" "Go to the costume room." the girls just stared at him in confusion before slowly making their way to the costume room.

Soon the girls had changed out of their costumes and into some fancy clothes. Currently they were riding in a limo with Layla, Jennifer and Karlos who were also dressed the same way. Just now Karlos had informed the girls just where they were going right now "A party?" exclaimed the girls, then it turned really quiet which cause them to feel very awkward. "This is so awkward…Say something to break the ice Sora!" thought the Japanese girl who then spoke up "It's a same that your father couldn't stay to see the show today." "Well it's really nothing new." snapped Layla "U-Uh…I'm sorry…" "How awkward!" thought Mia and Anna, it didn't take long for the limo to arrive at the location of the party. Jennifer and Layla soon entered the party with Karlos escorting them by the arm, some of the guests whispered to one another completely blown away by Layla and Jennifer's beauty. The three soon stopped in front of Mr. Hamilton who smiled at them "Layla, Jennifer you both look absolutely stunning." "Thank you Father." said Layla, Jennifer nodded "Yes thank you Mr. Hamilton." their attention was soon captured as the guests began gossiping about Mia, Anna and Sora who were slowly making their over to where they are. "They sure are getting a lot of attention." said Mr. Hamilton "Yes…" said Layla, her father then turned to look at someone "Oh by the way Layla have you met that man over there?" "Uh…I've seen him before if I remember…He's a movie producer right?" "That's right and I hear that he's looking for a heroine for his next feature film. I want you to audition for him."

The girls happened to overhear their conversation and looked at each other "So Layla wants to be a movie star as well?" wondered Sora "This would be a great career move, from a top box office star at Kaleido Stage to the top box office star in the world. Your commercial value could triple easily." told Mr. Hamilton, Jennifer who now stood by Layla looked at her friend a bit worried. She noticed this and grabbed Jennifer's hand giving it a comforting squeeze before saying "I'll do it." "Excellent! Why don't we head over to him right now? Oh and Jennifer I have someone I want to introduce to you, he's currently looking for a lovely woman to be his model so what do you say?" "Uh…Sure…Why not?" as they began making their way over to Mr. Hamilton's guests, Sora tried to get their attention but some guests approached her and her friends, wanting them to perform. Unable to escape from this the girls had no choice but to perform, in turn it caught all of the guests' attention. Once the girls finished their little performance Mr. Hamilton who had been watching them, nodded in approval "They're not bad." "You should come to see Cinderella they have this Triple-" began Layla only stop as her father walked over to the girls, Jennifer looked at her friend in concern "Layla…" "It's all right Jennifer…I'm ok…" As the girls were telling the guests to come visit Kaleido Stage, they stopped once Mr. Hamilton stood in front of the them "Ladies…" "Oh hello Mr. Hamilton!" greeted Sora "I'd like to ask you a favor…Tomorrow happens to be my daughter's birthday…Will be having a party at our house in the afternoon and I hope the three of you will attend." "We'd love to! Oh! And then you can take the rest of the day off work after the party to see Layla on stage in Cinderella!" "Ha, ha, ha, ha! I have business to attend to tomorrow. You'll be fairly compensated for your time at the party so don't be late." once making his statement, Mr. Hamilton chose this time to walk away with the girls staring after him in surprise. "Hey! Hold on a minute!" exclaimed Sora who went after Layla's father, he stopped and looked back at the girl "I'm a very busy man." "I just wanted to tell you we'd love to go to Layla's party. You don't have to pay us for-" "That's awfully selfless of you but you'll never become a success that way." with that said Mr. Hamilton continued his way, Mia and Anna went over to Sora's sides still staring after Layla's father.

The next day Sora, Anna and Mia showed up at Layla's mansion, dressed in very nice clothes. Currently they were standing outside the gate talking to Layla's maid who informed the girls on what's going on. "What? It's cancelled?" wondered the girls, the maid nodded "Yes…There is no party." "What's going on here?" asked Anna, Sora handed Layla's maid the present she held in her hands "Then can you make sure Layla gets her birthday present?" "What are you doing here?" the girls looked pass the maid to see Layla and Jennifer standing there on the front steps. "Didn't you hear me? What are you doing here?" questioned Layla "We…Came to wish you a happy birthday!" told Sora with that the birthday girl invited the three performers into her home. There as they sat in the living room Sora handed Layla her present which she took "Thank you…" "You're welcome." "My Father invited you didn't he?" "Yes…How come you cancelled all of a sudden?" "Oh girls it wasn't sudden." told Jennifer only to have them look at the two best friends in curiosity "Huh?" "Every year my Father gets people to come to my party by paying them and that…Really means nothing to me…" said Layla "It…Would take the fun out of it…" admitted Sora "That's why I cancel it every year." "Then why doesn't your father stop throwing all these parties for you, if you can't enjoy them anyway?" "That's just the way things are…He may not know how to make me happy but he cares about me in his own way along with Jennifer, that should be enough shouldn't it?" "But that's…" "Well it's enough for me now please…Go back home…" "Ok…" Layla stood up from her couch "I really must get back to practice now." "You practice here?" asked Sora "At your house?" added Mia, Layla nodded "Of course."

The stoic Hamilton then showed the girls her own practice room with a trapeze, right inside her home. They looked at it in amazement "This is huge!" exclaimed Mia "How cool is that? To have your own practice room in your house?" asked Anna, Sora looked to Layla who was stretching on the floor "So do you spend a lot of time in her Layla? Practicing I mean…" "Unless I'm rehearsing for a new production I'm in here for a few hours everyday…More when I've had a bad performance…" "That's a lot…And you don't take your birthday off?" "One of these days…My Father is going to acknowledge my work at Kaleido Stage and when he does I want to be the best performer I can possibly be." "But doesn't he…Doesn't he want you to be a movie star instead now?" "So I'll audition for the movie I'm going to live to his expectations…I want him to be proud of me…So you've seen my practice room now I have to get to work." "Right we'll just get out of your way." said the girls who began leaving the room, while they were leaving Jennifer who is standing next to Layla looked down at her "Hey…I'm gonna head out now…See you later?" "Yeah…" the Harington then kneeled down and gave her best friend a tight hug from behind before leaving out of the room also.

Outside Sora, Mia and Anna were following behind Jennifer who happened to be walking ahead of the girls. They were mostly silent during their walk until Sora finally spoke "Umm…Jennifer?" "Yes Sora?" "Just how close are you and Layla?" "We're best friends." "Yes I know but…" "You're wondering just how close I really am to the Hamiltons, right?" "Well…Yes…" "I gotta say Sora…You and me may have got the exact same story that has happened to us…" "Huh? What do you mean?" "Well…Let me tell you and the girls from the beginning…Layla and I have been best friends ever since we were little girls…Even our parents were close with one another…In turn Layla and I would always play together whenever we visit each others homes…But then one day just like you Sora…I lost my parents at a young age…I lost them in a horrible car accident….Unfortunately I had no one to take care of me during that time…Sure I had relatives to go live with but they were living in another country and were dealing problems of their own at that time…But to my luck and happiness, Layla's father took me in and made me a part of his family which made Layla happy to know that we wouldn't be splitting up at all." "Wow…So you're practically like a family member to them then." "In a way yes." "I'm sorry about what happened to your parents Jennifer…" "Thanks Sora…" "Jennifer…Does Mr. Hamilton always work on Layla's birthday?" asked Mia "Yes always have…Which makes me feel so sad for her, even when I try to cheer her up in my own way, it only cheers her up a little…I wish there's something I could do to change that." "Then that settles it!" exclaimed Sora which causes the girls to look at her in confusion "What? What's settled?"

Later back at Kaleido Stage Sora had gathered Mia, Anna, Jennifer, Sarah, Ken, Jean and Marion backstage to tell them of her plan. "And then once the show is over…Our curtain call can be one giant party for Layla's birthday! Wouldn't that be great? But if we're gonna do this we have to get to work right away! Mia, Jennifer you'll be the directors. Ken and Jean will deal with the set. Anna and Sarah can throw in the costumes together for us, and I'll find a job for you Marion!" told Sora who then began sawing a piece of world and continued to talk "Now there's not much time till the next show so get going!" the group simply just stared at the Japanese performer who ceased her sawing and looked at them "Uh…Well what are all of you standing around for? Come on get to work!" with the group dispersed to do their assigned jobs for Sora's plan. Minutes passed and the group had finished their work in quick time, currently Jennifer was walking down the hall carrying a box of party poppers with Sora, Anna and Mia following behind carrying some in their hands. "I can't wait to see the look on Layla's face!" told Mia, Anna nodded in agreement "Ha, yeah! Me neither!" Yuri happened to walk out of a room at this time and turned to the girls "Are you girls planning something?" "Yeah we're throwing a birthday party for Layla after the show." told Sora "But Yuri please keep it a secret all right?" asked Jennifer, the handsome performer smiled at her and nodded "Don't worry Jennifer I wouldn't spoil the surprise." Anna, Mia and Sora then went ahead of Jennifer who stopped in front of Yuri "Thank you so much Yuri." she then kissed him on the cheek and followed after the girls. The handsome performer touched the spot Jennifer kissed him at and smiled before watching Jennifer leaving form walk down the hallway.

Soon at the ending of the Cinderella performance while Yuri and Layla were taking their bows the lights suddenly turned off. This happen to catch Layla and the audience off guard, the top performer looked around in confusion "Hey…What is this?" soon the lights came back on and party poppers went off. There right in front of Layla a large present came upon stage with lots of lovely roses surrounding it. She soon hear voices happily cry out "Happy birthday Layla!" the large present then opened to reveal Sora, Mia, Anna and Jennifer standing there smiling at her with a large replica birthday cake behind them. "Happy birthday Layla from all of us!" exclaimed Sora, Layla looked at them feeling very surprised "Sora…Jennifer…" "This is from the company we hope you like it." said the Harrington, the large cake then was lifted to reveal Jonathan on top of a ball, balancing a real birthday cake on his nose. The cute seal then rolled his over to Layla and lifted the cake right in front of her, she looked at it then to the audience before blowing out the candles. The whole audience called and cheered for their Cinderella who smiled and waved at them.

Later at backstage Sora, Anna and Mia were happy with how everything turned out. Though as the girls approached the best friends who were already backstage, Layla turned to them and frowned. She handed back the birthday cake to Sora "Are you insane? You're the one who planned this aren't you?" "Uh…Yes…I did…" "I wish you hadn't…I never felt so publicly humiliated before in my life." "But…I'm so sorry…" "Don't you ever do something like this again!" she then stormed off with Sora calling after her "But Layla wait!" the stoic Hamilton stopped and turned "Wait? There's not more is there?" "At least take the cake…I mean…I don't care about the cake but there's a message on top! It's a note from your father, he told me to give it to you when I was on the phone with him today…" "Mind your own business!" and with that Layla continued her way, Jennifer sadly looked at the girls "I'm so sorry girls…I should have seen this coming but…I was so looking forward to this that I…That I thought this plan would surely cheer Layla up but…I was wrong…" "It's all right Jennifer…It's not your fault…"

An hour later back at the Hamilton Mansion, Layla was in her room laying upon her bed staring up at the ceiling in thought. She was thinking back to what happened onstage and back. "What's wrong with me? What am I so irritated about?" thought Layla, she continued to stare at the ceiling when she heard a knock upon the door "Layla?" "Come in." the door was opened by Jennifer who quickly stepped into the dark room and close the door behind her. It was quiet for a moment in the room until Jennifer softly spoke "Are you ok?" "Yeah…I was just thinking…" Jennifer walked over and sat on Layla's bed "I want to apologize for what the girls and I did out there on the stage today…We really didn't mean to upset you so Layla…" "I really wasn't expecting you to be apart of it Jennifer." "Well as your bet friend I was just trying to cheer you up…Guess I failed at it…" Layla then sat up on her bed "No…I should be sorry…You and the girls were only doing something nice for me on my birthday…" she then tightly hugged Jennifer "Thank you for today…And also for the years you've tried so hard to cheer me up on my birthdays." "You're welcome." "Jennifer…Can you do a favor for me?" "Sure, what is it?"

At the dormitory Mia and Anna were with Sora in her room laying upon her bed, going over what happened at the end of the show. "So what do you want to do with the cake? Should we eat it?" asked Mia "Doesn't look like Layla is gonna want it." said Anna, Sora then sat up in bed "I'm gonna make sure she gets that message from her father anyway!" Mia sat up in bed also "But Sora!" "That might make her mad all over again!" told Anna "Well I'm used to people being mad at me." said Sora, the girls then heard a knock upon the door followed by a voice "Sora it's Jennifer I'm coming in!" "Oh ok!" the Harrington opened the door and smiled a bit once seeing the birthday cake on the table "It's still here, that's great! I thought you would have eaten it." "Did you want some Jennifer?" asked Sora who watched her walk over and packed up the cake back in its box "No…Layla sent me here to pick up the cake." "Huh?" "She said she'll accept the cake since you took all the trouble to bake it. Well I'll see you girls later." and Jennifer left out of the room with the three performers staring after her.

Back at the Hamilton Mansion, Jennifer entered the practice room with the cake in hand "Layla I'm back!" the stoic performer landed in the safety just as the Harrington placed the box upon a table. Layla got out of the safety net and went over to Jennifer's side "What do you think my father's message says?" "We won't known until we find out." the Hamilton then lift the box off the cake to gaze at the lovely birthday cake with a little envelope attached to a clip. She took the envelope off the clip and opened it pulling out a folded up slip of paper. Layla looked at Jennifer who smiled and nodded "Go on." slowly the blond haired woman unfolded the paper to find writing on it. What it said on the paper made Layla smile and show to Jennifer whose smile grew bigger as she read the note out loud "Happy birthday Layla! Forever sparkling star of my heart! My little Kaleido Star." Layla then tightly hugged her best friend with a smile still on her face "Thanks again Jennifer." "Looks like your birthday didn't turn out to be all that bad huh?" "No…Not at all…" the girls soon giggled and began cutting up the cake for them to enjoy on this birthday night.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Today at the fantastic Kaleido Stage Marion was strolling along the front of the building with a picnic basket in hand and Jonathan upon her head. Apparently she and the baby seal were making their way over to the set that was being built outside, not too far from Kaleido Stage. Once entering the area of the set through a tunnel, Marion stopped in front of Jean an smiled while holding up the picnic basket "I brought you something to eat Dad!" "That was nice of you Marion!" Jean then looked back at his workers "Everyone it's time for a break!" all the men cheered and quickly gathered around the picnic basket, to being eating the delicious food that Marion brought for them. While their break was going on, Marion went into the audience seats and stopped before one, looking up at the baby seal on her head "I think we should sit here today." Jonathan barked in agreement thus Marion sat down and opened the book she happened to be carrying in her hand "And now I'm going to tell you the story of the Little Mermaid…Once upon a time there lived a beautiful mermaid, she lived at the bottom of the ocean in an enormous palace…" and she continued on reading, not knowing that Jennifer was watching her by the nearest exit. She smiled as listened to Marion telling the story of the Little Mermaid before taking her leave from the set.

Later that day after wrapping up the production of Cinderella, backstage in the dressing room Mia, Sora and Anna had just walked out while congratulating their fellow performers for a good show. Sora happily sighed and began stretching a bit "Freedom! Yeah! I've been wanting a vacation for so long! But now I don't know what to do." "I'm practicing." told Anna "We've got to be ready for the audition." reminded Mia, only to have Sora look at her friends totally caught off guard by this sudden news. "Didn't you hear about this? It's on the last day of our vacation." said Anna "Nobody has told me about an audition! Why, why, why, why, why, why?" exclaimed Sora "It's posted on the bulletin board at the dormitory." told Ken who had arrived just now, Sora turned to him "So what's it about?" "Last summer's production; The Little Mermaid was so popular they're remounting it." the stage manager showed the girls the poster he had in hand, in turn Sora gasp at this and took a step back. Ken saw this and couldn't help but ask "Is something wrong?" the Japanese girl then turned to her friends and began excitedly talking fast "I saw this show on video and it was the most amazing thing ever! I can't believe I get to see this in person! And now I might even get the chance to be in it! Oh and it's the saddest story! Especially when the little mermaid jumps off the ship at the end, every time I see it I just cry, cry, cry and cry!" Mia and Anna patted their friend on the head "All right we get it!" "Well since Layla wants to try out a few new trapeze maneuvers, I heard they're looking for a supporting cast with trapeze experience." told Ken "Wow!" exclaimed Sora "This could be your chance Sora!" told Mia "What?" Anna wrapped her arm around the Japanese girl "Because the trapeze is your thing!" "What are you talking about?" "After all you've mastered the Golden Phoenix didn't you?" said Mia, Sora nodded at this "Yeah!" "Just think you could be a supporting player." said Anna "You really think so? Maybe I should start practicing!" "And the pay is higher for the supporting roles too!" "Really?" Ken just smiled at the girls as they began excitedly talk about the upcoming production.

The next day at the stage Marion was still telling the Little Mermaid story to Jonathan who was once again on top of the little girl's head. She held the book in front of her face in order for the baby seal to see the pictures, while she read "But there was a problem…In order to trade her fins for feet. The little mermaid had to-" Marion immediately stopped as she bumped into something in front of her "What in the world is going on?" she placed the book down to see it was a man in a suit the little girl happened to bump into "Oh…I'm sorry…" "How are your preparations coming along?" Marion then looked pass the man to see an elderly gentleman talking to Karlos with Jennifer and Layla by his side "Everything is going smoothly." "I'm glad to hear it! Well? Are you going to stand out here and talk all day or show me the production?" "We haven't held auditions yet, there's nothing to show." "Enough of your excuses! I want to see where my money is going! Show me what you've got or the deal is off!" both Layla and Jennifer looked at each other before looking back at the elderly gentleman. "Well Jennifer and I are prepared to do a scene for you if you'd like…I mean that way you'd at least see something." told the Hamilton "We're all aware that you and Ms. Harrington are wonderful performers but doesn't Kaleido Stage have anyone else?" questioned the old man, he looked straight at Karlos "Layla is good but I just get tired of seeing her, show after show, after show, after show. I wouldn't mind seeing Jennifer take a lead role since it's been awhile for her to do one but just incase have you got anyone else?"

10 minutes later inside the training facility Karlos was having a meeting with all of the performers in the practice room. "In short…The audition will be today and in front of our producer. If one of you successfully completes the audition you'll play the title role. However…If none of you succeed we will be cancelling the Little Mermaid's run this summer. With that said, is anyone ready to audition?" "So in short…If you screw up the whole show is cancelled?" questioned Charlotte "Sounds too risky for me!" admitted Julie "So none of you want to audition?" asked Karlos, Anna nudged her Japanese friend in the side "Sora this is a great chance, why don't you do it?" "You could be the leading lady you know." told Mia "Me? As the Little Mermaid?" Sora asked feeling a bit unsure, this made Karlos smirk and chuckle a bit in turn the Japanese performer looked at him "Hmm? Did you say something Boss?" "That settles it!" "What?" "Sora you'll be auditioning for the role today." "Me? But I thought the Little Mermaid was Layla's or Jennifer's part?" "So what? Weren't you just bragging about your trapeze work?" questioned Charlotte "I mean it is your specialty right?" added Julie "And weren't you just complaining about your salary? Saying you should be paid ten times more?" "Yeah so you could buy that tropical island?" Karlos turned to the Japanese girl "Well Sora if you want that much more money I highly recommend you take a crack at this audition today."

With that being said later back at the Little Mermaid set Sora was standing on the other side of the castle wearing a wet suit, along with Jennifer who stood at the other side. Soon the trapeze set emerged from underwater and once it was there, Sora grabbed onto the swing. She fearfully looked towards Ken who happened to be sitting in a small control booth "K-Ken? What am I suppose to do?" "Don't worry Sora I'm going to walk you through everything you need to do ok? You're going to have to swing from where you are standing right now to the trapeze on the other side of the set, since this is your first time Jennifer will be on the other swing to catch you. You'll do that when I press the buzzer, if you jump when I buzz you'll be in sync with Jennifer on the other side of the waterfall." "Waterfall? What in the world are you talking about?" right on cue water began falling down right in the middle of the set making Sora scream out in fear. Jennifer sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of her head "Oh boy…Somehow I knew she was going to do that…" after going over a last minute check on the controls Ken looked back at Sora "We're starting! Hey you'll do great just jump when I buzz ok?" "Jump when you buzz…Right…" Jennifer then grabbed her trapeze swing and waited for the signal. Once she heard the buzzer, the Harrington immediately swing away from her spot and hung upside down. As she got close to the waterfall, Jennifer saw Sora emerge right through just seconds after. "No…She jumped too late!" thought the Harrington who held out her hands towards the girl. Sora managed to grab her hands in time but as the two were swinging back, Jennifer lost her grip on one of Sora's hands "S-Sora! You're slipping!" "Jennifer I can't hold on much longer!" the Harrington watched in horror as she watched Sora slipped right through her hands and began falling towards the set wall. Jennifer immediately dropped from the swing and fell towards the Japanese girl, once getting close enough she grabbed Sora's wrist and pulled her into a protective embrace and braced herself for her back to impact on the wall. To everyone's relief Yuri quickly darted up the leveled wall and jumped towards the girls, tackling them out of harms way and into the water.

Soon Yuri surfaced from the water along with Jennifer who held an unconscious Sora close to her. As they swam back to the edge of the pool, everyone quickly ran up to them. While Ken and the others quickly got the unconscious Sora out of the water and to the infirmary, Yuri quickly got out and gently helped Jennifer out. Once out of the water, the Harrington began coughing a lot, trying to get some of the water out of her lungs. Layla quickly approached Jennifer and wrapped a towel around her form "Oh my god! Jennifer are you all right?" "Yeah…*cough*…I'm fine…*cough* *cough*." Yuri pushed some of the Harrington's hair from her face "Are you sure?" he began checking her body over for any injuries "Maybe we should take you to the doctor." "I'm fine Yuri…But thanks for the save." "No problem." Layla comfortingly rubbed her best friend's back "Come on let's get you out of that wet suit and into some dry clothes." Jennifer simply nodded and let Layla wrap her arm around her shoulders to lead her away, with Yuri following closely by their side.

Later that day in front of the Kaleido Stage building, Jennifer and Layla stood off to the side as Karlos and the elderly man exchanged a few words in private. The old man then got into the limo that was waiting and left Kaleido Stage. While the car was driving out of sight, the two best friends went over to their boss. "So…How did it go with Mr. Kenneth?" asked Jennifer "I talked him into giving us another chance next week…Now we've just gotta hope our performer is up for it…" told Karlos who then turned to the Harrington "But enough about that…How are you feeling Jennifer?" "Me? I'm fine…But I'm kind of worried about Sora though…" "All we can do now is hope she can get her act together and perform next week for Mr. Kenneth." "Well it's getting late now…So we'll be taking our leave Karlos." said Layla, the Kaleido Stage owner simply nodded and watched the women enter another limo that was waiting which soon drove off once they were inside. 5 minutes into the ride Layla looked over at Jennifer "Can I ask you something?" "Sure…What is it?" "Are you going to take up that modeling offer that my Father brought up at the party?" "Well…I'm not entirely sure yet…" "You know it would make him very happy if you did." "I know…" "You don't have to answer right away. Besides I was just only wondering Jennifer." "Look how about next week after this whole Little Mermaid situation is over with, I'll give you my final answer about that modeling gig." "You promise?" Jennifer grinned a bit and held up her right pinky finger "Pinky promise." Layla laughed a bit before hooking her pinky with her best friend's "All right then, it's a promise."

The next day at the training facility Jennifer went in only to find Ken and Sora in a practice room. Currently the stage manager is trying to help the Japanese performer overcome her fear of making a mistake on the trapeze, thus he had her wear a blindfold. Sora had just begin her training when she immediately missed the other swing on the trapeze and fell onto the mats. She quickly up on her knees and began coughing, Ken immediately went to her side "Sora! Are you all right?" "No! I'm sorry Ken but I…I just can't do this anymore…" "Don't say that, of course you can!" "I'm sorry I just can't do it…" not liking what she heard, Jennifer made her way over to the two "Really? You're just gonna give up that fast?" the Japanese performer looked at Jennifer, surprised to see her here "Jennifer…" "Sora…Why are you giving up so fast?" "Because I just simply can't do it anymore!" "Sora now you listen to me. You've got to trust Ken on this since he's the one who's helping you through all of this. There comes a time where I or Yuri won't always be there to save you." "That's right Sora because I'm going to make sure you're going to play the Little Mermaid!" told Ken, the Japanese girl stared at him and Jennifer for a moment before nodding "Ok…I'm ready to try again." as Sora went back to practicing on the trapeze with Ken's help and guidance, Jennifer smiled a bit and left the room without being noticed by either of the two.

4 hours later a few feet outside from the dormitory Sora stared at a Chinese man standing before her and looked back at Sarah who happened to be behind her along with Ken and Jennifer "Uh…Who is this?" "Sora this is Master Lin, my kung fu teacher." answered Sarah "We thought he could teach you his methods of concentration so you can focus better when you're up there on the trapeze." told Ken, the Japanese girl looked at him in disbelief "What?" "Oh quit your whining Sora and just try it!" said Jennifer, Master Lin then did a pose which Sarah immediately understood "Excellent! Master Lin wants to give you a test!" "Huh?" wondered Sora, Master Lin soon bowed to the performer and Sarah said "Oh that means if you can keep up with him he'll teach you his concentration method." "O-Oh, right! Just don't be too hard on me." said Sora, soon the kung fu master began doing poses which Sora immediately copied. Once that was over Sarah began clapping "Well done Sora you passed!" she looked at the diva not believing at what she heard "What, I did?" with that Master Lin began teaching Sora his concentration methods and while that was going on, Jennifer whispered into Sarah's ear "Hey I've got something I need to do…Keep me posted on Sora's progress the next few days." "Sure, no problem."

Days passed and Sora was progressing nicely in her training soon coming to the day where she had to once again audition in front of everyone. Currently Karlos, Mr. Kenneth, Layla and Yuri were sitting in the audience while Sora and Jennifer were on the Little Mermaid set. Soon the trapeze swings were set and the waterfall began pouring down, Ken looked at the Japanese girl from the controls "Sora…" "Thank you for everything Ken." she then pulled out a white cloth and tied it around her eyes before grabbing the swing, this surprised the stage manager a lot "Sora! Are you sure about this? This time Jennifer won't be there on the swing to catch you!" "I know…But I'm confidant that I can do this all on my own Ken." Mr. Kenneth happened to notice what Sora is doing and looked to Karlos "A blindfold? Is she even going to make it?" "Of course she will." Ken did a last minute check on the controls and looked at Sora "Let's do this Sora! Are you ready to go?" "Yes!" "All right then, here we go!" "One and two and…Three!" the buzzer sounded and immediately Sora swing away from her spot, Jennifer who was on the other side of the waterfall simply stood there and anxiously waited for the girl "Sora…I know you can do this…I have faith in you…" she soon spotted her coming through the waterfall and was really surprised to find her wearing a blindfold. "I can't believe it…She's attempting to do this while being blindfolded?" thought Jennifer, she then noticed that Sora wasn't able to reach the other swing and was about to go save her when the Harrington saw that the Japanese performer grabbed onto the swing by the ankle of her foot "Unbelievable…"

Once Sora safely reached the other platform Jennifer ran up to her and tightly hugged the performer "Oh Sora, you did it! I'm so proud of you!" "Thanks Jennifer! I'm so happy and relieved that I did it!" 5 minutes later as they made their way off the set, Sora went over to Karlos to have a talk with him while Jennifer went over to Layla. The stoic Hamilton stared at her friend as she stopped in front of her "So…Are you going to tell me your final answer?" "I guess I'll take up that modeling gig after all and see how it goes…What about you? Are you going to try out for that movie?" "I suppose…Since the lead role will most likely go to Sora…This at least gives me something to do anyway…" "And it'll make your father really happy." "That too…" "Hey…Since This is all over and Karlos is busy over there with Sora…Why don't you and me, hang out together just like old times?" "Sure…I'd like that." "Well come on then!" Jennifer grabbed Layla's hand and dragged her off. The blond performer lightly giggled at this and simply let her best friend drag her away, not knowing that Yuri was watching the two. He smiled a bit as he saw this before leaving also, chuckling a bit on the way.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Right now at the Little Mermaid set, photographers surrounded the stage taking lots of photos of Sora in her Little Mermaid's costume and Anna who had been chosen to play as her prince. While the two stood there, Sora blankly stared ahead of her as she listened to Mr. Kenneth talking to the reporters that are there "Sora Naegino here will be the mermaid, Anna Heart will play the Prince. The Little Mermaid will be presented by Kenneth in a special two week limited engagement. We hope you enjoy seeing these upcomers prove themselves." the Japanese performer simply just ignored the questions that were being asked by the reporters, like how did she feel about Jennifer and Layla moving on to being a model and an actress. Before she knew it, Sora found herself in Karlos' office who happened to be informing the girl on what she will be doing in the next few days. "Let's see…Tomorrow you've got a photo shoot for the posters…And then you've got a newspaper interview…The next day you've got another photo shoot then you're on TV…" told the boss, he then noticed the look on his performer's face "What's wrong?" "O-Oh nothing! It's just that…I still can't believe this is happening!" "Snap out of it! You've got a lot of work to do leading lady."

The next day back on the set, Sora and Anna were currently doing some poses for the production's poster. The Japanese performer happened to be spacing out at this time, which Karlos happen to take notice and bark "Sora! Get your head out of the clouds!" this quickly snapped Sora out of her daze "I-I'm sorry!" Anna then leaned over and whispered in her friend's ear "We've got to pose for the posters…Just follow the directions." "Mermaid! I need you to look a little more lively!" told the photographer, Sora nodded at this "Sure!" "And prince you get a little closer would you?" Anna did as she was told, the photographer smiled and nodded "Great! Now you can show me the romance!" Anna thought for a moment before wrapping her arm around Sora and bringing her friend closer to her. She then lifted up Sora's chin so that the Japanese girl was staring straight at her. Anna soon wrapped her other arm around Sora's waist and glanced at the photographer from the corner of her eyes "How about this?" "Perfecto!" and with that he took the picture which was soon turned into a poster that was now posted around Kaleido Stage. "Anna looks so handsome as a prince, I was so embarrassed…" admitted Sora who stared at the poster along with her friends. "Oh! You both look great!" told Mia, Anna scratched her head a bit "You think so?" "Huh? Don't you like it?" Anna then began doing a funny pose "I was kind of hoping to look like a jellyfish." Mia simply ignored what she was doing and turned to Sora "Anyway you guys are going to be great!" "You think so?" Anna just stared at her friends in disbelief before sighing, Mia soon noticed the look on Sora's face and asked "Is something wrong Sora? You seem kind of down." "A bit…I was really hoping to see Jennifer play as the Little Mermaid instead of me…" "Oh yeah…That reminds me, what part is she playing in the production?" "She doesn't have a part…" "What do you mean? You mean she's not going to be part of the production?" "No…She told me this herself earlier today right before the photo shoot…"

*Flashback*

At the Little Mermaid set, Sora had just finish putting on her costume and was making her way to where the photographer is when she noticed Jennifer making her leave from the set. She quickly ran towards the performer calling out her name "Jennifer!" she stopped and looked once hearing her name, the Harrington then smiled as she saw the Japanese girl stop in front of her "Oh, hey Sora!" "Hi Jennifer…Are you heading backstage to get into costume for the photo shoot?" "Oh…Umm…Sorry Sora I'm not." "What do you mean? Didn't Karlos give you a part in the show?" "I'm surprised you haven't found out about this but…I'm not going to be in the Little Mermaid production at all Sora." "What?" "I took up that modeling gig that Mr. Hamilton offered to me." "You did?" "Yeah…But only for a little while, just to see how it goes." "But I thought for sure you were going to be part of this production and become the Little Mermaid…" "Sorry Sora not this time…Besides you tried out for that role and got it." "Yes but…I really didn't think I would get it…" "But you did Sora and I'm proud of you. Look I gotta go now, I have a photo shoot to get to." "But I'll see you around right?" "Only a little…This modeling gig will be keeping me busy during all of the showings for the production, but don't worry I'll come and see it so do your best Sora." "I will." "See you around then girlie!" Jennifer lightly patted Sora's cheek and left out of the set with the Japanese performer sadly staring after her.

*Flashback End*

"Wow…I'm surprised that she actually took that offer…" said Anna, Mia nodded "Yeah…Never expected Jennifer to do that…" "But I can't help but worry about the show…Since Anna and I have the lead roles…" said Sora, Mia grabbed her friend's shoulders "Oh Sora…You and Anna are way talented so don't worry so much about the show." "But still…Anyway I have other stuff to worry about…Like how to play the part wonderfully like Layla did…I have to be perfect!" "Well then…Why don't you have Jennifer help you?" asked Anna "But she's busy doing that modeling gig right now." said Sora "She probably wouldn't mind if you come to her for help on your role." "No that's ok…Besides I really don't want to bother her when she's so busy, I'll figure something out on my own…Look I'll see you guys later I'm gonna head off to practice now." and with that the Japanese performer left her friends, who couldn't help but watch after her in worry.

Days passed with everyone quite hard for the production and today happens to be the opening day for the Little Mermaid. There at the set, lots of people came and filled each and every seat in the audience, roaring with excitement. Backstage Sora was standing there in her Little Mermaid's costume, deeply breathing in and out, trying to calm her nerves. Anna happened to be already in her prince costume simply just watched her friend "I can't believe we're opening today." soon Mia came running over to her friends, wearing her assigned costume for the show "You guys we're completely sold out!" "Really? Good…I was afraid no one would come since Layla or Jennifer is not in it this time…" admitted Sora, Mr. Kenneth and Karlos decided to show up backstage and approach the girls. "Sora I'm counting on you." told Mr. Kenneth, the Japanese girl simply smiled at him and nodded "Yes sir!" Soon the show started and the others were completely amazed at how Sora was performing just like Layla. While the show went on Mr. Kenneth and Karlos were sitting in the audience watching, but neither of the men looked really impressed. Mr. Kenneth then leaned over to Karlos and muttered to him "I want you to contact Jennifer today and have her come by the stage tomorrow whenever she has free time." "Yes sir…" and the two continued to watch the production until the very end.

Later that day at a botanical garden, Jennifer was there along with a photographer and his crew. Currently they had just finished taking some pictures and Jennifer was doing a wardrobe change followed by makeup. Once she was all prepped and ready for pictures, a teenage girl went approached the Kaleido Stage performer with a cell phone in hand "Umm…Ms. Jennifer?" "Yes what is it?" "You have a phone call, someone named Karlos wants to speak to you." "I'll take it." the girl handed Jennifer the phone which she put to her ear "Hey Karlos…How was the opening day for the Little Mermaid?" "Actually that's something I want to talk to you about." "Why? Did something went wrong?" "No not really…By any chance could you come by my office tomorrow whenever have the free time from your modeling?" "Sure no problem." "All right then…See you tomorrow." "Yeah…See you…" Jennifer then ended the call and stared at the cell phone in her hand. The teenage girl who was still by her side noticed the look on the performer's face and couldn't help but ask "Ms. Jennifer is something wrong?" "No it's nothing…" Jennifer then handed the phone back to the girl and began making her way over to the photographer "Hey Lorenzo! Can we talk? There's something I want to discuss with you about tomorrow."

The next day at Kaleido Stage, Jennifer arrived at the building and headed to Karlos' office. There she found the boss sitting there along with Mr. Kenneth "Hey Karlos…So what's going on? What's with you suddenly needing me back here so soon?" "It's about Sora's performance yesterday…" "Did she perform badly?" before Karlos could say another word, a knock was heard followed by a voice "It's Sora." "Come in." told Karlos, the door opened to reveal the Japanese girl who stepped into the room. As she did Sora was surprised to see Mr. Kenneth and Jennifer in the room "Mr. Kenneth! And Jennifer!" the old man simply ignored the performer and turned to Karlos and Jennifer "Let's cut to the chase and to answering your question Jennifer yes…Her performance stunk yesterday, I should have had you played the mermaid Jennifer if I had known that Sora would be this bad! I guess it serves me right to try something new." Sora ran over to them and stopped in front of the elderly man "Wait Mr. Kenneth I know my performance isn't as good as Jennifer's or Layla's, no one knows that as better than I do but I'm still working on it! I promise I won't let you down!" Mr. Kenneth stood up from his seat and began leaving the room "Oh this is useless! Sora you don't even know why I'm disappointed in you, do you?" the elderly man then stopped and looked back at the Kaleido Stage's boss "Karlos…I want Jennifer to play the Little Mermaid as soon as possible!" Karlos then looked at the Harrington "Well Jennifer…Do you have the time to be able to do this role?" "Well…I finished up a big photo shoot yesterday and the photographer told me, it'll be awhile for them to need me in another photo shoot so yes I currently free." "Wait Mr. Kenneth please I can do this part!" pleaded Sora, Mr. Kenneth once again ignored the girl and left the office. Karlos sighed and stood up from his seat "I'm sorry Sora, the producer has spoken." with that the Japanese girl ran out of the office, feeling so disappointed in herself. Jennifer at the way Sora left and thought for a moment before making her way to the door. Karlos noticed this and asked "Jennifer where are you going?" "To help Sora play her role right." "But you heard Mr. Kenneth he wants you to play the Little Mermaid!" "Well sorry but I'm not." "Jennifer!" she simply continued her leave out of the office and to the Little Mermaid stage.

There she noticed how little the audience is just for the second day of the production. "This is worse than I had imagined…" thought Jennifer, she then took a seat in the audience and once the show started, the Harrington paid close attention to Sora's performance. Just after the first scene Jennifer realized just what Sora is doing and muttered to herself "She's acting just like Layla when she performed as the Little Mermaid…Which explains why today's crowd is not so big…They saw Layla in Sora and thus they're not really moved by her performance at all…" Later after the whole show was over, all the cast members went back to the dressing room to change out of their costume. Soon it left only Sora, Mia and Anna in the room which didn't last very long since Anna and Mia were beginning to leave also. "Sora we're leaving." said Anna, the Japanese girl gave no answer in turn her two friends began to leave only to stop in their tracks once seeing Jennifer standing there. "Jennifer!" exclaimed Mia, the Harrington said nothing but stepped in the room and headed over to Sora. She stopped by her side and stared at the girl who did not lift her heard off the table but said "I'm sorry Jennifer…I was a mess out there, I know it…" "And that doesn't make the audience happier now does it? They didn't come all the way out here just to see that half baked performance you gave today. Sora I want you to stop messing around and get serious with this!" Sora quickly lifted up her head and turned to Jennifer "But I!" "You and I are going to figure this out and create your own Little Mermaid." "Create my Little Mermaid…" "That's right Sora you'll do a show that they've never seen before!" told Anna "Like they've never seen…Yeah thanks for the help you guys! Come on let's get to work!" exclaimed Sora

Later that day back at the Little Mermaid stage, the sun was beginning to set and Sora was there along with Anna, Jennifer and Mia thinking of how to create her own Little Mermaid. "Everyone has to sympathize for the mermaid and if I don't know what she's going through how can I expect other people to?" wondered Sora "So how are you going to connect with that?" asked Mia "First of all you need to understand what it's like to be a mermaid." told Anna, Sora who wore a wet suit sat on the stage pool railing and began swinging her legs back and forth "Yeah…But how does that feel?" she then gasp and had Jennifer ask "You have an idea?" the Japanese girl then went into the water which caught all three girls off guard "Sora!" she soon surfaced and look at them "I'll think about it while I'm in the water after all that's where she'd be!" Mia, Jennifer and Anna looked at each other and simply shrugged before watching Sora play with Jonathan in the water. Soon Ken showed up carrying a picnic basket filled with food, he immediately stopped in his tracks and dropped the basket once seeing Sora playing around with the baby seal. Jennifer happened to notice his presence and greeted him "Hey there Ken." "Jennifer! Don't you hey me!" the stage manager then ran over to the railing and yell to the Japanese girl "Sora what do you think you are you doing? You can't afford to play around right now!" she ceased her playing and looked at him "But Ken that's what mermaids do! The sea is beautiful and it's their home. They can just swim in it all day long and they don't have to work!" "She's right." said Anna "And there's never anyone that yells or is mean to them." added Mia "That's got nothing to do with this!" exclaimed Ken "Someone who has lived like this all her life…I imagined someone like that be pretty cheerful and sure of herself, don't you think?" wondered Sora "The Little Mermaid is a tragic heroine…How can she be all of those things too?" asked Ken "Well I guess I'll never know unless I give it a shot!"

Unfortunately the following day's performance, once Sora tried out her little plan to change the Little Mermaid's personality and other things, the script writer was not at all please with this. In the front lobby Jennifer hid behind a pillar and listened as the script writer scold Sora for what she did in today's performance. Once the writer had left Jennifer came out from behind the pillar which happened to surprise Sora "Oh Jennifer!" "Hey Sora…" "Sorry if I did horrible out there today…" "No it's all right it's my fault I should have known that what you tried to do would confuse people and in turn make the writer angry, sorry…" "No…This is not your fault Jennifer it's all mine." "But you weren't wrong to try seems like the problem is no one knows what your mermaid is suppose to be. I mean you just started public performances if they just give you time to figure this out you'd be fine." "You're right…It's not only two weeks I've got two whole weeks I've gotta use this time I've gotta make this Little Mermaid work on my own!" "But Sora…" "Sorry Jennifer but I've got to start working on it right now!" and with that the Japanese girl ran off with the Harrington watching her. Jennifer couldn't help but sigh and thought "Why do I have a feeling she's going to push herself really hard on this?"

Day pass and Sora was wearing her Little Mermaid's costume a lot, trying to figure her role out. It soon progressed where she actually slept on the stage and try walking in her mermaid's costume only to trip and fall. One night on the stage, a crescent moon was shining high in the sky. Mia, Jennifer and Anna happened to on the stage with Sora and the girls just simply sat there staring at the moon's glowing reflection in the water. "I've been trying to get inside the mermaid's head to figure out what she's feeling but there's still something that I just don't get." told Sora "What is it?" asked Anna "She loves the prince right? She loves him so much that she trades in her voice just so that she can be human and be with him, but if that's true…Why didn't she tell him how he felt when she got engaged to that other girl?" "But how can she tell him that? She doesn't have a voice." reminded Mia "She still try to let him know if she felt that strongly about him I mean…" Sora then stood up in her costume "If that were me there's no way I'd just give up without a fight! I'd find some way to let him know how I felt!" "Without her voice? Sora…I think you're getting somewhere." said Jennifer, the Japanese girl looked at her "Huh, really?" "Yeah…Let's just see what the other cast think about this."

That morning the girls gathered some cast members and the script writer in order for Sora to discuss some things over with them. "So you're asking why the Littler Mermaid withdraws herself?" asked the writer "Yes…I mean if she's suppose to love the prince so much how could she just let him go like that? She might not be able to talk but she can still fight for him!" said Sora "Hmm…That's an interesting point you're making but that's not in our script Sora." "Maybe that's why…The audience can't identify with her because she just rolls over and plays dead instead of fighting for him." said a male performer, a female performer nodded "Yeah! And we can add a scene where she tries as hard as she can to get through to him." "Maybe she can have a duel with his fiancé." said another female performer "That's a great idea!" exclaimed Mia "But still the prince can't remember her!" reminded another male performer "Would she admit defeat then?" asked the writer, Jennifer shook her head "No she would hold the prince's hand and jump into the ocean with him." "Have the prince jump into the waterfall?" "Well how else can she remind him?" "Jennifer! That's wonderful! The Little Mermaid takes the prince back into the ocean and the prince finally remembers that it was her who saved him!" told Sora "A happy ending!" exclaimed everyone "It's perfect this story has always been played as a tragedy before! I think this'll be a much better production if it's got a happy ending!" said Anna "I'm gonna run all this by Karlos and if he approves we'll start rehearsing tomorrow!" announced the writer

4 more days passed and today a limo pulled up at Kaleido Stage and out stepped Layla who headed into the building and to Karlos office. Once inside Layla approached her boss "So I finished the filming early, Mr. Kenneth called me about coming back and doing the show since Jennifer didn't replace Sora who I heard tried playing the part my way once and started making pretty radical changes…I guess she's not playing a leading role is she?" "I think you should watch the show." and with that the two headed over to the stage where Layla saw how small the audience is today "Over half these seats are empty no wonder Mr. Kenneth is complaining." the Kaleido Stage boss then walked away and into the audience with Layla following. The two then sat by Jennifer who simply smiled at her best friend "Hey Layla…Already finished with the movie?" "Jennifer why didn't you-" "Because I didn't want to Layla." "Look at how much audience we've lost thanks to Sora's performance!" "And you should just watch today's performance…I think you're going to like it." Layla just stared at her friend before turning her attention to the stage just as the show began to start.

At the beginning Layla was becoming irritated at how Sora was performing but soon she slowly began to understand just what she was doing. She then was surprised as she watched the ending scene where the Little Mermaid had the prince fall into the water with her in turn he remembered that the mermaid is the one who saved him. Everyone who was there in the audience roared with excitement and Mr. Kenneth who was also there in the audience began to cheer "She did it! She did it! That was what I was hoping for! The kind of Kaleido star that no one has ever seen before!" Jennifer then looked at her friend and asked "So…What do you think?" "I suppose she did all right…" "Of course you would say that." Layla said nothing to this and simply just sat there, arms crossed over her chest. Jennifer then looked at Sora who happened to be looking at her, the Harrington smiled and gave her a thumbs up. In turn this made the Japanese girl smile and looked back at the audience to bow for them, feeling very happy at her success.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Today happened to be another perfect run for the Little Mermaid, currently the cast had finish wrapping up a performance and were now in the dressing room getting out of their costumes. Jennifer happened to enter the girls' dressing just as Anna, Mia and Sora were getting makeup off their faces "Hey there girls." "Hi Jennifer!" "Well now…I've recently noticed that you're getting quite a fan base Anna and from what I heard it looks like you're getting more everyday." Sora turned to her friend after hearing the news "Hey maybe you should go to the lobby and say hello to them, you think?" "Hold on…Just about ready…" Anna then turned around and showed the girls her silly makeup face she had just put on. Sora and Mia simply stared at her friend while Jennifer turned around and tried not to laugh at this. Noticing the look on her friends' faces, Anna asked "What? Too much?" "It's way too much." admitted Sora, Anna bowed her head and groan in disappointment. "And besides you'll terrify them." told Mia, Anna then began wiping her makeup off "I guess I've still got a lot to learn…"

Later on their way back to the dormitory Anna was reading a magazine she had in hand while Mia, Sora and Jennifer followed right behind. The girls simply just chatted with one another until Sora asked "Hey Anna…How come you joined Kaleido Stage? I mean instead of becoming a comedian." "Because I love Kaleido Stage, just as much as I love comedy." "So basically you want to use the stage to make people laugh right?" asked Jennifer, the comedic performer simply nodded. "Well if that was your goal looks you and Sora have already made that happened." said Mia making her two friends sheepishly laugh at this. Just as Anna turned a page in her magazine, she gasp and stopped in her tracks once seeing something on the page. This in turn made the others stop also and look at her "What's wrong?" asked Sora, they then looked over Anna's shoulders to see a picture of a man on the page. Jennifer began reading the page info out loud "Stand up comedian Jack Baron will be at the Comedy Theater this weekend only." "I've never heard of him…Is he really good or something?" wondered Mia, Anna simply shrugged "I don't know…I haven't talked to him in 10 years…" "Oh…You know this guy?" asked Sora, Anna stared at the page long and hard "Jack Baron…He's my Father…" "Really?" "He used to do this thing where he imitated a frog or an owl and it used to make me and my friends laugh…But then one day…He left the house and I told him to come back early for work…He never did return home and that was the last time I ever saw him…" The girls soon reached Sora's room and came in, there they began munching on snacks and continued to listen to Anna as she finished up her story "You see my Dad's agent promised that he was going to get my Dad his very own television series but…I guess that didn't work out for him…Well that's showbiz right?"

Jennifer ceased munching on her potato chips and asked "So you haven't seen your dad in 10 years?" Anna shook her head "Nope, not even once…Every once in a while he'll send me a Christmas card. I've written to him a few times too but he'd always move before my letters could get to him." "So that's why you're always checking the listings of the Comedy Theater, you'll never know when your father might come to town again." said Mia "Yeah well…Maybe that's one reason for it…But I do really love comedy and I like to know who's in town." Sora took a look at the magazine "Hey uh…Isn't that theater really close to us you guys? Well?" Mia nodded at this "You're right! We should go see his act!" Ana sighed a bit once hearing this "I don't know you guys…Part of me wants to see my Dad but another part of me is scared…" Jennifer then went over and grabbed the comedic performer's arm and made her stand up "Then we'll accompany you, your highness!" "W-Wait Jennifer! Don't tell me we're leaving right now!" "Of course we are, now come on!" "W-Wait!" the Harrington simply ignored her protesting and dragged Anna out of the room with Sora and Mia quickly following behind.

Minutes later at the Comedy Theater, the girls were in the audience and were currently watching a ventriloquist performing on stage with his puppet. Many people in the audience were happily laughing and enjoying the performance. While the laughing continued you Sora looked at Anna who was sitting across the table from her "Isn't this exciting? Will your Dad recognize you?" "Oh I'm sure he will! He's going to be so surprised!" told Mia, Anna simply smiled and looked at the bouquet of flowers she had in her hand. "And here comes your father." said Jennifer just as the MC introduced Anna's father to the audience. The girls clapped along with the others just as Jack Baron came walking out on stage. Though the girls' surprise and disbelief, Anna's father began making rude jokes and acts towards the audience. Just as he made a girl storm out of the place and the boyfriend following after, Jack Baron was surprise to see Anna in the audience who simply just stared at her father. He soon snapped out of his little daze and wiped the beer that was thrown on him with a handkerchief "So…We've got a celebrity here tonight, the Little Mermaid from Kaleido Stage!" "What?" exclaimed Sora who then immediately stood up once everyone turned their attention to her "Oh! I…Uh…H-Hello…" "I always thought mermaids were half woman, half fish, but this she looks like more half whale!" told Jack Baron, Jennifer shook her head and muttered "you've got to be kidding me…" Anna simply just stared at her father in disbelief and thought "How can this person be my Dad?" once hearing her father make a rude joke about Kaleido Stage, Anna simply stood up and ran out of the place with Mia following after. Sora then picked up the bouquet Anna dropped and looked towards Jack Baron. Jennifer saw this and gently grab her shoulder "Sora…Come on let's get out of here…" "Right…"

The next day at the Little Mermaid set, the whole cast pulled off another perfect performance. Backstage Sora, Anna and Mia ran in and towards Ken and Jennifer who smiled at the group. "So how did it look out there?" asked Anna "Another great show Anna." told Ken "I'm glad that last night didn't throw you off." said Jennifer, Anna gave a smile "Yeah…I'm sorry about that…Making you girls feel bad and all." "No not at all." "So are you going to try and see your dad while he's still in town?" asked Sora, Anna immediately shook her head at this "Uh no…I think it'll be better if I don't see him again…" "What? But why?" "Because 10 years ago Jack Baron walked out on my Mom and me and never looked back. He's made it pretty clear that he wants nothing to do with me." and with that Anna walked away with Mia, Sora, Jennifer and Ken staring after her. At the outside entrance to backstage, Anna stood at the entrance and was signing autographs for her friends. Mia, Jennifer and Sora happened to be watching her from a few feet away. "She'll never be a comedian if she's that nice!" joked Mia, Sora giggle a bit at this and turned to her "Maybe we should go back…Huh?" the Japanese girl looked pass her friend and happen to spot Anna's father a few feet away from where they are. He immediately noticed that he was spotted and took off running with Sora chasing after him "Come back!" Jennifer and Mia stared after her and exclaim "Sora!" Anna looked up from signing a autograph in confusion, wondering what's with the sudden commotion.

That night at the dormitory inside Sora's room, the Fool floated right in front of the Japanese performer holding up a fortune card "Well would you look at that card…Yet again a silly girl is poking her nose in where is doesn't belong." "You already showed me that card before and that doesn't mean that at all so quit it." "And all this time I thought you were ignoring me…This is the inverted moon it fortells that someone will acknowledge his short comings and finally start moving in the right direction." "Right! It sounds to me like it's a better time to get Anna and her father back together!" soon a knock sounded upon the door "Sora can I come in?" "Sure!" the door opened to reveal Jennifer who stepped into the room "Hey Sora." "Oh Jennifer, hi!" the Fool who was still floating by Sora's side took a good look at the Harrington "So I finally get to meet Jennifer Harrington…She is a lovely woman…" Sora grabbed the spirit and stuffed him under her pillow "Quiet you!" "Uh…Sora?" the Japanese girl saw how Jennifer was looking at her and sheepishly laughed a bit "Ha, ha, ha! Just talking to myself Jennifer!" "Ok…" "So what brings you here at this time?" "I just wanted to know just where did you run off to earlier?" "Oh umm…I happen to saw Anna's father while she was doing autographs and he ran off so I chased after him." "I see…Look Sora I know you want to help Anna in anyway you can but…For now just leave things the way they are…Sometimes it's best just to leave things be…" "Oh…" "Look I'm gonna head back to my apartment now…See you tomorrow." "Yeah see you tomorrow Jennifer!" and with that the Harrington left the room. Once she was gone the Fool was once again floating right beside Sora "You're not going to listen to her are you?" "Unfortunately I'm not…I know what Jennifer said makes sense but still…I want to help Anna and her father just a bit and hopefully something good will happen." "Oh Sora…"

The following day at Jonathan's pool, Jennifer was feeding the baby seal who happily accepted the food and the affection that he is given. Once she fed Jonathan the last fish. Jennifer happen to hear someone calling her name. She turned to find Sora running towards the pool "Huh, Sora?" the Japanese girl stopped at the wall of the pool and began panting a bit "Oh…I'm…So glad that I found you here Jennifer…I've got something to tell you!" "Sora…Don't tell me you went to see Jack Baron today…" "H-How did you know?" "Knowing you Sora I know you'll still try to get Anna and her father together even though I told you not to interfere, am I right?" "U-Umm…Yes…" "See? Now anyways what did you want to tell me?" "Could you get Anna and have her come over to the Comedy Theater right now?" "What if she doesn't want to?" "Then convince her somehow! Jennifer please for me?" "Oh…All right…Just give me a few minutes…By the way where's Anna?" "I'm pretty sure she's in her room at the dormitory." "All right…I'll see you there." "Thank you so much Jennifer!" while Sora ran off, Jennifer simply sighed and looked down at Jonathan "She's not a quitter isn't she Jonathan?" the baby seal made a noise pf agreement and with that Jennifer got out of the pool and left the area, heading over to the dormitory.

There at the building Jennifer stood outside Anna's room and knocked upon the door "Anna? It's me Jennifer…Can I come in?" "Yeah!" she opened the door and just as Jennifer stepped in Anna grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room slamming the door shut. "Whoa! What's going on Anna?" asked Jennifer "You just came in time! I need your help!" "Well before you say anything else, Sora wanted me to take you back to the Comedy Theater to-" "And I'm going." "All right…What's with the sudden change in attitude?" "I just had a talk with my Mom and she explained some things about my Dad…And I want to do something and I really need your help, so please help me?" "Uh sure…What do you need help with?"

Meanwhile at the Comedy Theater, Sora was there sitting in the audience along with Mia, Mr. Policeman and Ken waiting for Jack Baron to perform. Once walking out onstage just like the other night Jack began making rude jokes towards the audience which they didn't like at all. Suddenly from out of nowhere Anna showed up wearing a waitress outfit and approached the stage "Well, well, well…Nobody seems to be enjoying your show. What do you think you're doing?" Jack stared at his daughter in surprise "A-Anna! It's you!" "Anna!" exclaimed Sora, she was about to stand up from her seat when she felt a hand on her shoulder. The Japanese girl looked to see Jennifer standing right behind her who smirked as she watched Anna. "Jennifer!" exclaimed Sora "Hey there girlie! What do you think of Anna's outfit? Turned out pretty good with a little help from me." "What's going on here?" "Just watch and you'll see." "Well this is a surprise! You're just like your mother you know that? But then again your mom is about twice as good looking as you are." told Jack, Anna then stepped onstage at this "You know Dad…You're a big comedian but you sure don't make the audience laugh much do you?" she pulled up a chair and sat down on it "Looks like you're more Junk Baron than Jack Baron." everyone began laughing at this including Anna's father who said "Good one! Jack Baron the Junk Baron that could be a great stage name for me!" "And that reminds me…Didn't you went to New York to make a name for yourself? So what you're so big you can only play at the club you started out in?" questioned Anna "10 years ago…My agent told me I'll be playing in the biggest theaters the U.S had to offer…How could I say no to that?" "And so Jack Baron abandon his family to find fame and fortune." "And it's thank to that agent that I got to make a tour of all the best comedy clubs in New York where I begged them for me to perform." "How come your agent wasn't doing that for you?" "He had a heavy tricking schedule to maintain with my money! I was turned down by all the comedy clubs New York had to offer and then I was turned down by all the seediest ones!" "Heh…I guess even the seedy clubs have professionalism to maintain." "I've been in the city for about a month when I came back to my filthy motel room and discovered that my agent had run off with my money and all of my stuff…I'll never find an agent as honesty as him."

Everyone laughed at this while Anna looked at her father in disbelief "What! If all that happened just a few weeks after you left Mom and me, then why in the world didn't you just come back home?" "Hey I lost my shirt Anna I couldn't come home like that! So I kept looking for it in under passes and alley ways and dumpsters behind posh hotels. It's kind of funny…After all this time here I am performing again and still there's only one person I want to make laugh…No matter how long I stayed away there was only one person's laughter I wanted to hear…" Anna who had her head bowed at this time looked up at her father with tears in her eyes "Then what the heck are you waiting for Dad? You're a comedian aren't you?" Sora then got up from her seat and ran to the stage tossing something to Anna's father "Jack here!" he caught and saw that it was a tissue puppet he used to make Anna laugh with. Jack then turned to his daughter and began trying to make her laugh with the puppet. In turn this made her cry a bit more, but seeing the look on her face Jack smiled and went over to his daughter who hugged him tightly "Dad!" this moment happen to brought tears to the girls' eyes along with Mr. Policeman, Jennifer sniffed a bit and wiped her tears away before smiling at Anna and her father while thinking "You don't know how much I'm happy for you and your father Anna…" and they group simply continued to watch the daughter and father not really wanting to ruin the moment between the two.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

It soon came to the day where the Little Mermaid production has finished up its shows and currently Jean and his workers were taking down the set. Sora happened to watch this as this was going on and couldn't help but feel a little sad "I can't believe that it's already over…It seems like the Little Mermaid had just opened…" "Sora!" the Japanese girl turned around to find Mia, Marion and Jonathan hiding behind a lamp post, she stared at the three as they waved her over "Wha…What is it?" "It's Ian!" told Mia "It's Ian!" repeated Marion this just only confuse the performer "What?" Marion and Mia ran over to Sora and exclaimed together "Ian is here in the flesh!" "In the flesh?" wondered Sora, Mia nodded "Yeah! It's really him!" "He's visiting here!" added Marion, Jonathan who happened to be on her head barked in agreement. "You're not talking about the Ian who co-star with Layla in her movie are you?" "Are too!" exclaimed the girls "You're not a huge fan of his are you Sora?" questioned Mia "Uh…No not particularly…" "Then you've got to help us!" said Marion "Ok…What do you guys need me to do?"10 minutes later outside Karlos' office, Mia and Marion made Sora stand in front of the door and have them stand on her shoulders while they looked through the window above the door. "I…Shouldn't have…Never…Agreed!" groaned Sora "Oh I see him!" exclaimed Mia, Marion tried to spot him with her eyes "Where, where?" the two then stared at a red head guy standing and talking next to Karlos. "Just look at that million dollar smile! He's so dreamy~!" said Mia "He's even cuter in person!" exclaimed Marion and the two girls dreamily sighed as they continued to watch Ian.

Inside the office Jennifer stood next to Layla, leaning her back against the wall and listen to Ian ramble "I can't imagine anyone but Layla playing the heroine in my next movie and since I'm producing it I have the final say in all matters of casting, of course I can add Jennifer in the movie if you like Layla." the stoic performer simply closed her eyes and looked the other way "Ian I already told you I don't want to do your film and I'm certain Jennifer doesn't want to do it either." "Layla…I know how you must be feeling right now…" Ian then turned to Karlos "She has had her first taste of movie success so she's overwhelmed so Karlos you and I have to persuade her and her best friend Jennifer to do what's best for their career. I know you understand how big of a step doing this next film could be for Layla and maybe even Jennifer so please try to talk some sense into them." Ian looked back at the women "Layla if you won't listen to me then listen to Karlos." the Kaleido Stage boss then stood up from his seat and looked at the girls "Layla, Jennifer I think you both need to go." "You're right it's about time." said Layla, Ian looked at her in surprise "What? You mean you and Jennifer will do it?" he then pulled out his cell phone and began talking to someone on the other line. Layla took this time to pass Ian with Jennifer closely following after and bid him farewell "Good bye Ian." Karlos began following after the two and Ian finally noticed and said "Hey! Wait a second!" the three stopped in front of the door and turned to the guy. "Now what do you want?" questioned Jennifer "When Karlos said that you girls should go…You-" "I was just reminding Layla and Jennifer that we have a production meeting to attend." told Karlos "But what about my movie?" exclaimed Ian "We've already made our decision and you just have to accept that." Jennifer firmly said and with that Karlos opened the door for the girls only to find Sora standing there with Marion and Mia still standing on her shoulders. "There's…A very good reason…On why we're doing this…" Sora managed to say while trying to hold up her two friends, Layla simply pass them and began walking the down the hall "Oh stop embarrassing yourselves!" Jennifer also pass by the girls but not before smiling and giggling at them "Oh you girls can be so silly sometimes!" Karlos was about to pass them too until he stopped right besides Sora and looked at her "Actually…Why don't you come with us?" "Huh? Whatever you say Boss…But how come yo want me?" the Kaleido Stage boss said nothing more and followed after Jennifer and Layla with Ian running after them.

Later at the training facility, the group entered a large rehearsal room with Jean explaining some things to Karlos "This is just a prototype but I wanted you to see it." Yuri happened to be already in the room and looked at the best friends "Hey…What took you ladies so long?" "Don't ask!" growled Layla who approached Yuri and stopped right beside him along with Jennifer. Sora, Marion and Mia gasp as they saw a huge boat set before them. "The next production Arabian Nights features tightrope walking. The climax will take place in the rigging of a ship." told Jean "Wow! That's so cool!" said Sora, Ian then went over to Layla and Jennifer "But it's just a tightrope act! Seriously circuses are so over, movies are the wave of the future and this one is sure to be-" Ian stopped talking just as the ship began to move back and forth. "The boat is moving!" exclaimed Sora "Of course when we perfect it the wave motion will look realistic." told Jean, the two best friends stared at the boat in complete interest and itching to try it out. "Sounds interesting…" said Layla "Look if you girls like boats I'll make sure we have one in my film!" said Ian who pulled out his cell phone again and began arrangements, Yuri tossed a glare at the movie star but dropped it once Jennifer tugged on his arm "Yuri…Can you please hold my jacket for me?" "Of course." he helped her pull off the jacket and watch her pull off her shoes along with Layla. The women then quickly climbed up the ladder and onto the boat. Once there Jennifer walked out onto the tightrope first then Layla as they were a good distance from each other, the two women began doing flips and twirls. It didn't take too long for Layla to lose her footing and fall safely into the net while Jennifer stayed on the rope.

The boat soon stopped and the women made their way back down to the others. "It's going to be a bit tricky." admitted Layla "Yeah not only will you have a fight scene with a bandit up there but the entire ship will be engulfed in flames." told Karlos "That's ridiculous! Jennifer and Layla will never-" "That's sounds great!" said Jennifer, Layla then turned to the handsome male performer "Yuri we should start practicing." "But my character is not the one you're going to have a fight scene with." "What? Then Jennifer…" "Yes Jennifer will be the lead bandit but…I'm holding auditions for her right hand…Mr. Kenneth is producing the show and he's giving me a casting suggestion for the right hand." said Karlos, having a feeling on what he was about to say Layla said "No not…" "Yes he said that he felt the lead bandit's right hand of Arabian Nights should be played by Sora." the Japanese girl looked at them, feeling surprise to hear this "You mean that I…I'm going to co-star in the show with Layla and Jennifer?" "Both you and Mr. Kenneth have got to be out of your minds! The Little Mermaid wasn't exactly what you call a success now." said Layla "Be that as it may he's dead set on Sora. He said he'll double our budget if she gets the part." said Karlos "Ok I see how it is…" Layla then turned to the Japanese performer "Sora!" "Yes?" "Do you really think you can do this? If you don't think you can then you have to refuse the role that's the only way Mr. Kenneth will understand." the stoic Hamilton turned back to the boss "Karlos she isn't ready! If you keep pushing her like this she's going to get hurt. Why don't we just rewrite the script so that it's just Jennifer in the fight scene." "Mr. Kenneth will be disappointed but if Sora thinks she can do it then we'll have no other choice." But I…" started Sora causing everyone to look at her and she continued "I really want to try it…Please don't make me turn down this role!" Jennifer looked at her very amused by this, while Layla looked at her in disbelief "What did you just say to me?" "I have to at least try it Layla! Please give me a chance!" "You've got to be kidding me!" "I'm serious!" "You outta leave these tricky stuff to the pros I'm a right Layla?" said Ian, everyone simply ignored him and Sora continued on "I'm not really sure I can do this but I want to give it a shot please let me try!" "Look if you're not certain you'll be able to do it there's no point in even testing you. If you don't believe in yourself, you can't expect us to either. Let me know when you make up your mind!" and with the Layla stormed out of the room, Jennifer sighed a bit at this and followed after her, pushing Ian out of the way as he tried to stop her.

2 hours later at the Hamilton Mansion, Layla was in her practice room along with Jennifer, practicing on her very own tightrope. Jennifer simply watched from down below as Layla was doing flips and other moves on the tightrope. To their dismay Ian was there rambling on and on about his movie. While this was going on Layla happened to be doing the split on the rope and couldn't help but thought "Why does it have to be Sora? And why am I feeling so threaten by all of this? Why?" she soon jumped off the tightrope and safely land right next to Jennifer who handed her a small towel. "Have you and Jennifer finally come to our senses?" asked Ian, Layla looked back at him "Ian…" "Layla." "We hope you'll find a wonderful leading lady for your film." "That's gre-" he stopped once realizing what she said and couldn't help but mope before frantically calling his people to cancel some things. "Jennifer let's go I want to get out of the mansion." said Layla "Fine by me." and the ladies left the practice room soon walking outside, Jennifer walked over to her car "Come on let's go for a little ride and talk." "Fine…" Layla got in the passenger's side while Jennifer got in the driver's and started her car soon driving away from the mansion.

Out on the rode the two friends sat there in silence until Layla finally spoke up "Jennifer…I never felt that like this before…What's wrong with me?" "It's about Sora…Because she's got something that you don't have." "What?" "She's willing to take chances no one else…And that's including me…I mean no one else takes chances the way that girl does." "Right because we're not stupid." "Maybe you're right but Karlos seems to like what she brings to the stage…Anyway whatever you decide to do I'll stand by you." "Jennifer…I think you should take me back to Kaleido Stage." "Alrighty then." and with that Jennifer drove towards Kaleido Stage

There inside Karlos' office Sora was having a little meeting with the boss. "Umm…Boss? I wanted to ask if you think I should turn down the role." said Sora "I thought I told you, you have to make your own decision on that." "That's right I did…In that case I think I'm gonna have to say-" "Wait a minute!" Sora turned around while Karlos looked up from his newspaper to find Layla and Jennifer standing at the door. "Layla!" exclaimed Sora, the stoic Hamilton approached the Kaleido Stage boss' desk "Karlos we need a test, Jennifer and I will take it too you will decide whether or not we're good enough to co-star with Sora. What do you say? How about we do it in a week?" "If that's what you ladies want." "Great." Layla then looked straight at Sora "The three of us have a week to work up on our routines." "But I didn't mean to-!" "I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with Sora." "You'll look forward to what?"

With that being announced and set, the girls began practicing for their routine to show in a week. Just 2 days in Jennifer was currently in the practice room going over her routine on the ship. While she did some somersaults on the rope, Yuri happened to be watching her from down below. Once finishing up her routine, Jennifer was a bit surprised as she heard someone clapping. She looked down to find the handsome blond performer and made her way onto the floor "Oh Yuri…I didn't know you were here…" "Well I just came by to check up on you…That's a good routine you have going on up there." "Yeah well…I'm still cleaning it up a bit…" "I'm sure that your routine will be wonderful for auditions." "You think so?" "I'm sure of it." "Jennifer!" she and Yuri looked to see Ken and Sora entering the room. "It's time for Sora to use the boat for practice." told Ken "Ok I just finished up anyway." the Harrington then looked back at Yuri "Talk to you later ok Yuri?" "Sure." Jennifer soon gathered up some of her stuff and began leaving the room, not before ruffling Sora's hair on the way "Have a good practice girlie!" "Thanks Jennifer!" Yuri smiled a bit as he watched the Harrington leave the room and soon took his leave in order to get some practice in himself.

5 more days pass and the day had come where the girls showed off their routine to Mr. Kenneth and Karlos. Jennifer had already performed her routine and currently they were watching Layla do hers. She soon finished off her routine by landing on the platform and did a striking pose which in turn everyone began to clap. "Wonderful! That was very impressive indeed Layla! Sora it's now your turn!" said Mr. Kenneth, the Japanese performer nodded and made her way to the ship with a Diablo in hand. Once she was on the ship, it began moving back and forth in turn Sora began her routine with the Diablo. Everyone watched as Sora jumped high into the air making Ken exclaim "That's too high!" "He's right the rope is going to bounce her right off." thought Layla, Jennifer simply just watched and made no comment. Everyone soon gasp as they saw Sora miss the rope but were amazed as they watched Sora used the Diablo as a zip line and safely make it to the platform. While she stood there panting, Sora looked down to find Mr. Kenneth happily laughing and clapping "Ha, ha, ha! Very impressive Sora! You scared the heck out of me! Well what did you think Layla, Jennifer? Don't you girls know a good performance when you see one?" "Believe us we do Mr. Kenneth I think Sora has impressed all of us today, right Layla?" said Jennifer and nudged her friend, she simply nodded in agreement "Yes…I'll look forward starring opposite of her and Jennifer."

Later that day at the sandy shore of Kaleido Stage, Sora was there with Jennifer and Layla staring out at the sea. It was silent between the girls until Sora looked at them and said "Uh…Layla, Jennifer?" "Jennifer is right…You clearly have something that I don't possess." said Layla, the Japanese girl looked at her a bit confused "What?" "With that said if you want to be onstage with me and Jennifer you need to be more prepared than you have been your entire life." "I will!" with that said Layla turned to Sora and held out her hand to her "I look forward to working with you." "Jennifer also turned to Sora and smiled at her "Same goes for me!" the Japanese girl stared at the two best friends before smiling and shaking Layla's hand "I'm looking forward to it too!"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Currently inside the Kaleido Stage building, Sora, Layla and Jennifer were practicing the fight scene on the ship. Right now Layla hit Sora in the side with the practice sword, making her fall into the safety below. "No Sora, that wasn't fast enough!" told Layla "I know! I'm sorry, can we try that again?" "All right! Get back up here!" said Jennifer, while Sora made her way back up to the tightrope, Anna, Mia and Marion were watching the whole thing from the audience. "That routine is so hard." said Anna, Mia nodded in agreement "I know!" the girls began doing the fight scene again only this time Sora's timing was too fast and she ended up smacking Layla in the side with her practice sword and made her fall into the safety net. "Sorry Layla! I was too early with that!" said Sora, again the girls began doing the scene once more and Jennifer began counting out loud for Sora "One, two, three! One, two, three!" Sora was following Layla who was walking backwards on the rope when the Japanese girl tripped and ran into Layla who in turn ran into Jennifer that happened to be behind her. All three performers fell into the net together and Sora quickly apologized "Sorry!" "They've got less than a week to go before the show opens." said Sarah, Ken who was right next to her was recording the whole thing on video camera "I know and Sora is way too freaked out about the timing of this thing. She's so worried about getting it perfect she messes up."

Later that day Yuri was taking both Layla and Jennifer home in his sports car and currently the vehicle was at a stoplight. While waiting Yuri said "I don't know what Karlos was thinking on this one. I mean your performance and Jennifer's performance styles compared to Sora's is about as mixed as oil and water. On the other hand this could be part of some publicity stunt that he stringed up. What if he's just using the three of you? One thing is certain to succeed you're going to have to perform at Sora's pace." the light then turned green and Yuri began driving down the road, Layla took a glance at Yuri before looking ahead of her "If she wants to keep playing leads then she have to perform at mine and Jennifer's." the Harrington then noticed a certain look on her friend's face and said "Uh…Layla? I know that look on your face…What are you planning?…Layla?" "You'll see." "And why do I have a sudden feeling that you're going to make me apart of your little plan too?"

That night at the dormitory Sora was in her room, watching over the footage of the fight scene Ken recorded earlier today. Fool floated by her side and watch the Japanese girl collide with Layla and Jennifer "Not your most graceful." "Oh I just can't get the timing right! If I stay with either Jennifer or Layla I'm too slow but if I do my own thing I'm too fast! I've just got to find someway to match them." she then heard a knock on her door and heard Sarah's voice from the other side "Sora?" "Yes?" "You have guests!" Sora got up from her seat and went over to the door "I'm not expecting anyone…" she then opened the door "Yes?" right there in front of her stood Sarah with Jennifer and Layla standing by her sides. Sora stared at them in shock and said "But Layla, Jennifer what are you?" Sarah took this time to make her leave "I'll leave you kids to it." "Thank you." said the two best friends "So…What's up?" wondered Sora "Jennifer and I are going to be staying with you, if you don't mind." told Layla, Sora stared at them in surprise before letting the two women in her room.

There just as they walked in Layla an Jennifer saw the footage that Sora was watching on T.V. Sora noticed this and began to explain "Oh! That was just a video I had Ken make for me…I thought it would help me get you twos timing." "That's exactly why we came here…Jennifer and I need to observe the way you move in day to daylight. Living in such closed quarters I hope we can understand each other's movements better." said Layla "So we understand each other's movements better? Right!" the two friends then put down their suitcases and took off their jackets gracefully having both Sora and Fool stare at them adoringly. "Wow! They look so elegant together!" muttered Sora "Oh my…" said Fool who began floating closer to the ladies only to have the Japanese girl grab him and put him under her foot. Jennifer and Layla looked at her once hearing something "What was that?" "Oh nothing! I just thought it looked cool how the two of you took off your jackets just now…And I was just about to go get some dinner in the dining hall, do you want me to bring you two back something?" "No we'll come eat with you." said Jennifer, the door soon was opened by Anna and Mia who looked into the room. "Sora!" greeted Anna "Wanna get some food?" asked Mia, the two soon gasp and fell back onto their butts as Layla and Jennifer gracefully strutted out of the room and down the walkway. Sora's friends couldn't help but stare after them "What the?" started Anna "What are they doing here?" wondered Mia, Sora who closed her door looked at her friends "Oh…They're going to be living in my room for a little bit." the two stared at her in shock and Sora simply began walking away "Come on you two let's eat!"

At the dining hall Charlotte and Julie were in line getting their dinner, both were mad that Sora got another lead role and will be co-starring with Jennifer and Layla. "If they wanted a new face for co-starring with Layla and Jennifer they should have chosen one of us!" grumbled Charlotte "That fight would be perfect if I had done the show!" declared Julie, Jennifer and Layla who happened to be standing next to the two said "Could you keep the line moving please?" Julie looked at them "I'm not finished making my salad yet!" soon she and Charlotte completely jumped back in surprise once realizing that Jennifer and Layla were standing there. Once getting their food, the two top performers went over to a table and sat down with Sora joining them. The performers who were already in the dining hall couldn't help but stare at the three as they simply sat there and ate their meal. Not at all believing that the two top performers were here eating in the same dining hall as them.

20 minutes later the girls were returning back to Sora's room and on their way there, the Japanese girl carefully observed how the two best friends walked in sync with one another. "Both Layla and Jennifer have got a graceful walk even when they're not in front of an audience." thought Sora, once back inside the room she asked her two co-stars "Would you two like some coffee?" "No thank you but I would really like to use your shower." said Layla only to make Fool stare at the stoic Hamilton "Oh the nerve of her!" "Are you sure?" asked Sora who kept an eye on Fool, Jennifer noticed how she sounded and asked "Is there something wrong Sora." "Umm…I…No! Ha, ha, ha of course not silly! Go right ahead Layla, take your time!" the Japanese girl quickly grabbed Fool, tied him up and stuffed him in drawer just as Layla entered the bathroom to take her shower.

While the Hamilton was taking her shower, Jennifer was laying on Sora's bed staring up at the ceiling, while the Japanese girl was stretching on the floor. "She and Jennifer can be graceful even when they're saying no to coffee." thought Sora who soon heard the bathroom door open and looked up. Once she did, the Japanese performer lightly blushed as Layla gracefully walked in wearing a long red night gown "Look out that!" Fool who had escaped his ropes that Sora tied him in opened the drawer door and watched the blond performer "Oh my…" noticing that the spirit was out Sora quickly slammed the drawer shut with her foot and looked at the Hamilton "Hey Layla wouldn't you be more comfortable in a pair of my pajamas?" "What's that?" "You know so that you can get in touch my rhythm." "But how will that-" Sora pulled out of pair of pajamas "Here I think this one will fit you and Jennifer I probably have one for you also!" "But Sora we don't…" started Jennifer only to have the Japanese girl cut her off "Look if the two of you are going to stay in my room you're going to have to follow my rules ok?" the women looked at each other then back at Sora nodding "Whatever you say."

5 minutes later once the two best friends were dressed in Sora's pajamas, they began pulling out their sleeping bags that had brought along. Sora noticed this and said "Oh no…You two can't sleep on the floor, take my bed I won't mind." "One problem though Sora, Layla and I can't fit on this bed." said Jennifer "We're sleeping on the floor and that's final." told Layla, Sora stared at them feeling a bit unsure but reluctantly nodded "Sure…" 20 minutes later while Jennifer and Layla slept in their sleeping bags, Sora laid wide awake in her bed and was deep in thought "Having Layla and Jennifer live with me…Having them sleep in my room…If I can't get the timing right after this…No! Don't think about that! I'll get their rhythm down I have to!" suddenly Sora noticed Fool floating right above her, gazing down at both Jennifer and Layla "They both look like sleeping angels." "Hey! How did you get out?" Sora harshly whispered "Let's just say I was exceptionally motivated…" Fool did used his magic for a fortune, he looked at the card he held in his hand "The Tower…It means you should expect the unexpected." "You mean like having Layla and Jennifer come over for a surprise visit?" "Huh…Good aren't I?" "Whatever…Just try not to wake them up ok?"

The days progressed and slowly the girls were becoming in sync with one another, soon it came to the point they were getting their timing right for the fight scene. During today's rehearsal of the fight scene, Ken was pleased to see how well the scene was coming along and thought "The girls are finally starting to work together, their moves are starting to fly!" Yuri who was also their at the rehearsal but was practicing doing his own thing, stopped what he was doing and watched the girls thinking "But will all that momentum stall when they get to the climax?" Another day passed and today the girls were having a meeting in Karlos' office concerning about the show. "Sure I think we can open on time…However I think we should tone down the climax or else this show is going to blow up in our faces." told the script director "So you're saying is you want to make the fight scene easy?" questioned Layla "Yes…For the time being I think we should cut the Diablo it's just keeps getting in the way." "What?" wondered Sora "Breaking in a newcomer is enough of a risk I don't want anyone to get hurt up there as the director I think this is our only option right now." "But I can do it! I've worked so hard!" "I know you have Sora but we're running out of time!" "Unacceptable." said Layla, the director looked at her a bit surprised "But Layla I'm only-" "We can't hold back on the climax…The show will fall apart all we need is one more day." "But tomorrow is the final dress! We can't move that! Are you saying we postpone opening night?" "We'll use stand ins for the final dress." told Karlos, the director tiredly sigh and turned to the boss "Are you serious?" "I'm serious." "You won't be sorry Karlos." told Layla

The next day Layla, Jennifer and Sora headed over to the docks there they approached a boat where a crew were setting things up. "Good morning! Is it ready?" greeted Layla, the captain of the boat turned and smiled at the girls "Ah! It's good to see you this morning Ms. Hamilton, Ms. Harrington! Everything should be in order." "We appreciate it." said Jennifer, Sora stared after the two friends as they got on the boat only to have Layla say to her "Sora hurry and get on the boat!" "Coming!" once they were all on the boat, the captain turned to the performers "And it looks like the weather is going to cooperate too!" "I think you're right." agreed Layla, Sora looked up at the sky to see the clouds were dark and couldn't help but think "Those clouds don't look good at all…" soon the captain drove the boat out of the docks and headed out into the sea, during the ride Sora couldn't help but turn to Layla and Jennifer "Excuse me but…" "Before you ask Sora we're going to practice out here." told Jennifer "What?" soon the boat stopped once the waves had calm down and the captain and his crew set up a contraption where it had two platforms on both sides and a tightrope right in the middle. The girls quickly changed into their practice clothing and now stood there staring at the tightrope set. Feeling a bit uneasy about this Sora turned to the women "Umm…Layla…Jennifer…I know our practice in getting our timing right was getting a lot more synchronize but is it safe to do this over the water." "We want you to forget everything you learned up to this point." told Jennifer "Huh?" "Sora…We've been beating our heads against this routine and trying to get every single move perfect but then Layla and I realized that having the fight be perfect isn't enough." "It's practically been the same kind of choice I've been making on stage for years along with Jennifer." said Layla "What are you both trying to say?" asked Sora, Layla looked at the Japanese girl "This has to be a real fight between the three of us." "A real fight between, Layla, Jennifer and me?" thought Sora, seeing how she didn't give an immediate answer Jennifer questioned her "So what? Will you do it or not Sora?" Sora firmly nodded with determination set in her eyes "I'll do it!"

The girls then pulled off their jackets and grabbed their practice swords but before they made their way onto the tightrope, Layla looked at her partners "You two can use life lines if you want. I'm not using one because it'll just get in the way when I move." "Then we'll simply won't use one either right Sora?" said Jennifer, the Japanese performer nodded "Right!" the girls then got onto the tightrope set and prepared themselves for the oncoming fight. Layla sent a smirk towards Sora "You're starting to look like you could be a real adversary." Jennifer chuckled a bit while Sora made her way onto the tightrope first followed by Layla. The two then began the fight and Sora was completely caught off guard by the force put into her sword making the Japanese performer take a few steps back. "She's really serious about this about this! If I drop my guard for one second she's gonna toss me into the ocean!" thought Sora "Make that mistake again and you're going to be shark bait!" told Layla who quickly took a step back as Jennifer entered the fight with Sora joining in. As they fought for a bit, the waves that were now appearing started rocking the boat back and forth. In turn this made the girls lose their balance and held on tightly to the rope. "Out on the ocean neither Layla or Jennifer can predict when the next wave is going to come so out here they're-" Sora's thought was broken as she saw Layla get back onto the rope and darted toward her only to have Jennifer stepped in and block her attack. "Sorry hurry up and get back on the rope!" barked Jennifer "Right!" and thus the girls continued on with their actual fight out on the ocean waters.

This continued on even when a storm appeared and the captain and his men stared at them in disbelief as the girls continued to fight in the ran. "They're like…Machines…" said the captain, the girls continued on until they stood there tiredly panting. "Are you…Ready to give up yet?" panted Layla, Jennifer panted but gave a smirk to her best friend "No…Not at all…What about you Sora?" "No way!" and they continued on with their fight until all three performers jumped up high and managed to hit each other with their swords before beginning to fall. "No Ms. Hamilton, Ms. Harrington!" exclaimed the captain and to his relief the girls grabbed onto the tight rope just in time. All three were heavily panting and Layla managed to ask "You two still in one piece?" "Yeah!" with that they ended their fight and made their way inside the boat to change into dry clothes and rest. While they sat in a room drinking a warm beverage, the captain came in and informed the girls "I just radio the docks and the storm is even worse out there, we're better staying put out here till the morning." "If you think it's best ok." told Layla and the captain took his leave. The three sat there in silence until Sora spoke up "Wow…Tomorrow we're doing the show for real…" "Doing it for real…" whispered Layla having both Jennifer and Sora look at her "What?" "I wonder…If Jean can add some rain to the effects?" "That would be awesome." agreed Jennifer "You know you're really incredible Layla…You also Jennifer…The two of you are always thinking of ways to make Kaleido Stage shows better!" told Sora this made the two best friends smile at this and laugh a bit. "Do you mind if I ask you two why you joined Kaleido Stage in the first place?" "When Jennifer and I were little girls, we came to see one of their shows with our parents. It was wonderful of course like a beautiful dream but the thing we like best about it is…That it's the first time in my life I could see my parents laughing like children." told Layla which made Jennifer smile as she heard this. "Really? What show did yours and Jennifer's parents take for the two of you to see?" asked Sora "The show was Alice In Wonderland…" answered Jennifer "Alice In Wonderland? That's the one I saw with my parents before they died…It's one of my favorite memories…Because…Seeing that production was the last thing my parents and I ever did together…" "It was same thing for me…My Mother had been very sick and that day was the first time in my life I ever heard her laugh so hard unfortunately…It was also the last time…After she died…My Father tried to forget by throwing himself into this work…" told Layla "Same goes for me…Seeing that production was the last time my parents and I did something together before they went on a road trip for business and got into that horrible car accident…" said Jennifer

It soon became silent for the girls and they stayed like that for a bit until Sora spoke "Wouldn't it be nice for your father to come see the show?" both Layla and Jennifer looked at her a bit surprise and Sora quickly noticed this "Oh! I'm sorry! Did I say something I shouldn't have?" "No." answered Layla who then sipped her beverage and thought "I never told anyone about my family before…Only Jennifer knows about this but…It's almost like Sora has the power to change people's hearts…" Jennifer covered her mouth and yawned a bit "Well…We should try and get some rest." "Ok…" Layla then looked at the Japanese girl "Oh and by the way Sora are you aware that you talk in your sleep?" told Layla which happen to surprise Sora "Huh? No…I don't…" "Yeah you do it was kind of weird…" said Jennifer "Oh…" the Japanese girl then thought "I wonder if they heard me talking to the Fool…"That morning all the performers rushed outside of Kaleido Stage and to the dock that they had. Everyone watched as a boat docked with Sora, Jennifer and Layla on it they all sighed in relief as the girls climbed up the dock ladder. "Sora! Welcome back!" greeted Anna "Thanks!" once joining everyone, Layla turned to Marion's father "Jean can you make it rain during the fight scene?" "Rain? Well…I can try!" he then turned to the others and yelled "Hey I need my crew!"

Later that day they opened the show right on time and it went off smoothly soon coming to the fight scene. The audience members watched in excitement as they saw Layla, Jennifer and Sora on the swaying boat with the rain hitting them. Both Layla and Jennifer ran at each other real swords drawn and began the scene with Sora joining in a minute in. Everyone watch in amazement as the fight scene continued on soon coming to the part where the ship came on fire. Layla, Jennifer and Sora quickly jumped up to the tight rope above them and continued on fighting. Sora then lost her sword as Layla knocked it out of her hand before quickly turning around and blocking Jennifer's attack. Sora then jumped up high and over the two women and pulled out her Diablo in turn doing her trick. Though as Sora knocked Layla's sword out of her hand and landed on the rope, she slipped and began to fall towards the fire. Everyone gasp as they saw this both Jennifer and Layla leapt into action. Thus the Harrington grabbed Sora's hand and Layla grab Jennifer's other hand with her right and held the rope tightly in her left "Sora!" the Japanese performer looked up at her co-stars and sighed in relief "Thank you Layla…Jennifer…" the two smiled a bit at this before looking up in confusion as they heard applause. Turns out the whole audience like the whole turn out of the scene and were now standing up from their seats clapping. Jennifer toss Sora up to the tight rope and Layla did the same thing for her best friend before standing beside her co-stars. Sora stood in the middle of Jennifer and Layla as they did their bows. Once they did them Layla turned to Sora and Jennifer saying "It's been awhile since I've heard the audience applaud like this." tears of happiness appeared in Sora's eyes as she heard this "I'm…So happy! I don't know what to say! I don't want this moment to ever end!" Jennifer giggled a bit and ruffled Sora's hair "Neither do I Sora!" the girls giggled a bit before taking another set of bows as the audience continued to clap for them


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Another fantastic performance of Arabian Nights has ended with all the audience members loudly clapping for the company who took their bows. Soon the audience began making their way home while the cast headed backstage to change their clothes and have a well deserve rest. Right now Sora, Anna and Mia had just left the dressing room already in their regular clothes after congratulating their fellow cast members for another good show. Mia happily stretched her arms and sighed "Oh! Great it's vacation time!" "I almost don't know what to do with a whole week full of free time." said Anna "What do you think about taking a trip some place?" suggested Sora "Man! You've got a lot of energy!" "I just want to sit on the beach!" told Mia, Anna nodded in agreement "Oh that sounds nice!" "The beach? Not me! I want to go to some place I never even heard of before! And then cut loose and I'll-" Sora stopped in mid sentence and in walk as she spotted Karlos standing right in front of her, hands in his shorts pockets "Sora." "What is it Boss?" he pulled out a plane ticket and handed it to the Japanese girl "Here you go." "Is this an airline ticket? Oh my gosh Boss! Are you rewarding all of my hard work by giving me a trip to someplace exotic? Thank you, thank you!" "That's great!" exclaimed Anna "Looks like you got your wish!" said Anna "It's work." told Karlos, Sora stared at him in disbelief before hanging her head in disappointment "Dirty trick…" muttered Anna "Look on the bright side at least you get to travel…" told Mia

The next day Sora is currently riding a plane on her way towards the location Karlos sent her to and much to her relief Ken and Jennifer came along for the trip. "Karlos wanted you to have a manager with you on this trip so that's why I'm here." said Ken, Sora nodded at this "Right…" she then grabbed his hand held it in hers "Oh Ken I'm so glad I'll have somebody I know with me!" Ken blushed at this and thought "Wow…Life can be pretty good sometimes…" the Japanese girl then turned to Jennifer who was sitting on her other side "And Jennifer what about you? How come you're coming along with me and Ken?" "Well Karlos wanted me to keep an eye on you, making sure you don't get injure in someway and also I happen to know the person we're going to meet with." "You mean you know Mr. Pack?" "Yeah we go a bit way back." "I see…Well then I can't wait to meet him! Besides just where are we going anyway?" "Well the place that we're going is Theatrical Camp." "Theatrical Camp?" "Yeah it's a mobile circus and they specialize in different things then Kaleido Stage. Like knife throwing, fire breathing, whip tricks and keg juggling." "I see…So…Should I start practicing fire breathing?" Jennifer giggled at this while Ken stared at her before shaking his head "I…I don't think so…"

Hours later the three got off their plane and took a taxi to a small town there as they were dropped off Sora and Ken got scared by woman suddenly yelling out "Strangers!" Sora began looking around and immediately turned to Ken "Uh…Ken?" the stage manager began pulling out a map "Hey don't worry I'll find out where we're suppose to be…" he looked at the map before turning around "This way!" but as he did there stood a tall bald man covered in a cloak which made Ken scream. Jennifer smiled at the bald man and took off her sunglasses "Hey! It's been awhile hasn't Mr. Pack?" "Ah Jennifer! How wonderful to see your lovely face again! We've been expecting you all…" Mr. Pack turned his attention to the Japanese girl greeting her "Please to meet you Ms. Naegino, Theatrical Camp welcomes you!" and with that Mr. Pack began walking away with Jennifer following him, she looked back to find Sora and Ken not following "Come on you two! You don't want to be left behind now don't you?" not really wanting to be left behind Sora and Ken ran after the two.

Later as the sun was beginning to set Sora, Jennifer and Ken reached Theatrical Camp and were now watching a live performance by the company. Sora was amazed as she watched a gray haired woman breath out fire while hanging upside down on the trapeze swing "Wow! She's really breathing out fire!" soon both she and Ken watched in surprise as some of the children ran up to the company and joined in on the show. "It's like…The audience is part of the show." muttered Sora, soon the show was over and the company headed back to their tent which Sora, Jennifer and Ken headed to afterwards. There they found the woman scolding a large man while twins with blond hair began chasing each other around the area and a man simply sat there in silence reading a book. "Excuse me…" said Sora trying to get everyone's attention but failed at it, in turn she yelled loudly "Hello?" everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her at this time Mr. Pack showed up at the tent placing a hand on Sora's shoulder "I see that you've meet our guests…This is Sora Naegino…" "Karlos from Kaleido Stage sent me…It's nice to meet you." "And I'm Sora's manager; Ken Robbins." said the stage manager "And I'm pretty sure you all know our other guest." said Mr. Pack while placing his other hand on Jennifer's shoulder. The blond twins quickly ran up to the Harrington hugging her by the wait "Jennifer!" "Why hello there Milo, Mila! My look how much you've grown since I last saw you! It's been awhile hasn't it Pamela, Tank, Dio?" while the other company members went over and greeted Jennifer, Pamela simply just stood there and stared at Sora muttering to herself "Kaleido Stage huh?"

That night in another tent everyone had gathered around the table for dinner where a dark skinned woman carrying a baby upon her back by the name of Dominique had set out the food for them. "Enjoy everyone! I don't like to brag but today's stew is delicious!" told Dominique "Yay! Food!" cheered the twins "As for tomorrow's performance I was thinking of doing a piece we haven't done in awhile…Since we have a guest and all Sora I would like for you to be the lead…A princess…" said Mr. Pack "The lead role?" "Yes…" "And in tomorrow's performance? I don't know if I can do it Mr. Pack." Pamela scoffed at this "Huh! She's not going to even try. Maybe she's just flat out isn't good enough why not have Jennifer do this role?" "Well…I guess I can give it a best shot…" said Sora "Oh what's the use it's impossible! Jennifer what do you say? How about taking up the princess role?" Jennifer simply gave Pamela a shrug "Sorry…No can do Karlos said I'm not to perform at all in Theatrical Camp." "Back to what I was about to explain to Sora…The story itself is very simple you'll be playing a princess who has to rescue her little twin sisters from an evil sorceress." told Mr. Pack, Sora nodded at this "Ok…" Pamela who was now eating her stew said "Dominique just threw away their carrots again!" she went over to the twins and put some more carrots into their stews "So I guess that means you need a refill. Eat up!" the twins groan in disappointment and as Dominique walked away Milo and Mila stuck their tongues at Pamela who did the same thing back. "Pamela you'll be playing the sorceress." told Mr. Pack, the gray haired woman nodded "Right…" "Tank you'll be the glutton with the superhuman strength…The princess will fight against a knife wielding monster before making her way to the witch's lair." "Uh…Pack? You've forgotten my part." said Dio, Mr. Pack nodded at this "Ah yes Dio…Your character is the princess' only ally they work together to rescue the twins, falling in love along the way. A happy ending no?" Dio then looked at Sora and said "Nice to meet you." Oh! It's nice to meet you too!" Jennifer lightly nudge Sora in the side "Hey lucky you Sora you get to be the character that falls in love with Dio's." "And why's that Jennifer?" "Have you even took a good look at Dio? What kind of girl doesn't want to fall in love with a handsome guy like him?" Dio chuckled a bit at this "Still flattering as ever Jennifer…Thank you for the compliment." Ken who couldn't help but feel jealous about the whole Sora's character falling in love with Dio's, muttered underneath his breath "A love story part sounds unnecessary…Why couldn't Jennifer take that part instead?"

Later Jennifer, Pamela, Sora and the twins went into their own tent to get some sleep while Dio, Tank and Ken went into theirs. Sora was laying in bed looking over at the script Mr. Pack gave her "This script talks only talks about the story and not enough information on my routines…I wonder what I'll be doing…" Jennifer who was laying in the bed right next to Sora's looked at the girl "You'll just have to wait and see Sora." "Yeah you're right…At any rate I guess I better get some sleep for tomorrow…" the Japanese performer then closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep, unfortunately Pamela was blow drying her hair, the twins were arguing with each other and Dominique's baby was loudly crying in the other tent which in turn created a huge ruckus. "Oh! I can't sleep!" exclaimed Sora who then turned to the Harrington "Jennifer how are we suppose to sleep with all this noise?" to her dismay Jennifer was already fast asleep in her bed causing Sora to stare at her in disbelief "How can she sleep with all this noise going on?"

The next morning Sora and Ken were outside at the sink, preparing to brush their teeth. The two of them look equally exhausted from not getting enough sleep last night. "That baby cried all night long…" groaned Sora, Ken tiredly yawn "Really? I couldn't hear it over Tank's snoring…" while the two brushed their teeth, Jennifer showed up at this time "Hey morning you two!" Sora and Ken rinsed out their mouths and turned to the Harrington, surprised to see she didn't look exhausted at all. "Jennifer how did you manage to get some sleep with all that baby crying and snoring going all night long?" questioned Sora "Oh that…I put in some ear plugs before I went to sleep." the two stared at her in disbelief "Are you serious?" Jennifer sheepishly grinned at them and shrugged her shoulders. 5 minutes later Sora and Ken checked the tents to find the small company nowhere to be found. So they and Jennifer approached Dominique who was doing laundry and Sora asked her about rehearsal. "Oh there's no rehearsals sweetie." told Dominique "You're…You're kidding right?" asked Sora "Afraid not. Theses folks just don't go in for that." "You don't happen to know where they went?" asked Ken, Dominique simply smiled at him "Oh baby this is their free time, they're scattered to the winds!" soon they heard the sound of something snapping inside the main tent and went to check it out. There inside they found Dio practicing with his whip "It's Dio!" exclaimed Sora, this cause the whip performer to turn around and the Japanese girl sighed in relief "I'm so glad! I thought everyone had gone off and left me." "I bet everyone else is out sight seeing…I guess I should probably get out of here and go do some of that myself…See you later…" Dio began to leave until Sora stopped him "Oh wait a minute! You mean you guys don't really rehearse at all? I…I never performed without rehearsal!" "That's too bad…Look Sora is it ok if I give you a little piece of advice?" "Yeah!" "When you watched the show yesterday I'm sure you saw that each member of the troupe has their own specialty…The story is just their so we can show off what we do best. If you just pay attention to the audience's reaction you'll know what to do." "Follow the audience's reaction?" "Right…Just show them what they want to see…Just relax…" "Thanks for the advice Dio." and with that the whip performer took his leave from the tent to do some sightseeing.

Later that day they begun the performance with Pamela, Milo and Mila starting the show. As the three went off stage after doing their part, the lights went out for a second before coming back on. Backstage Sora looked on debating whether or not to go on "I wonder if that's my cue…Should I go on? I…I can't tell…" soon Pamela came backstage and went over to Sora "It's you! Go!" and with that she pushed the Japanese girl out causing her to fall right in front of the audience who laughed at her. Sora quickly got back on her feet and began acting only to try and dodge some kegs that happen to roll out of nowhere only to trip and fall to the ground again, in turn the audience laugh at this. Ken watched from backstage with Jennifer feeling a bit worried for Sora. Mr. Pack who was right behind the two said "Looks like everything is going smoothly." Ken looked at him in confusion "What do you mean?" Jennifer just simply remained quiet and continued watching the show. It continued on with Tank coming out and showing his talent along with Mr. Pack who threw knives at Sora, it soon came to the part where Pamela appeared on the trapeze set. Though as she was doing her thing Sora quickly climbed onto the trapeze and began swinging. Jennifer who saw this couldn't help but thought "Bad move Sora…" the Japanese performer launched herself towards Pamela who held out her hands to her. Though as Sora got close Pamela purposely pulled her hands back and let Sora fall into the safety net. The Japanese girl couldn't help but feel humiliated as she heard the audience continuing to laugh at her and with that the show ended.

That night after having a little chat with Mr. Pack in his tent, Ken went outside and over to Sora who was sitting down on the grass looking up at the starry sky. "They think putting someone in danger is in their payment…I just don't understand these people if you want to leave…I'll explain everything to Karlos for you Sora." said Ken, the Japanese girl simply shook her head "I don't care if they make fun of my mistakes but that's not what they were doing…They were making fun of me because I'm an outsider…Yesterday's performance I thought it was amazing how the audience and cast seem to be working together to make the show but today it seemed like everyone was just trying to humiliate me. I mean they didn't even let me perform…" "Is this about Pamela?" both Sora and Ken looked behind them to see Jennifer and Dio standing there. "How did you know?" asked the Japanese girl "Sora…It was awful for what she did to you up there…But did you happen to notice what she was doing before you grab the trapeze?" said Jennifer, Sora and Ken just looked at her a bit confused "I know you didn't mean to Sora but you stole Pamela's biggest moment." told Dio "That's why?" asked Ken, Sora nodded in understanding "I see…Dio, Jennifer thanks so much for telling me." 5 minutes later inside the tent Pamela was sitting in a chair sewing her costume while the twins slept in their beds. She stopped her sewing and looked up as she heard footsteps approached her. There stood Sora staring at Pamela who said "What do you want?" "I'm sorry I ruined your big moment." "I bet you're ready to go running back home after today. This isn't like Kaleido Stage where all you have to do is follow a script to get an applause, a monkey could do that!" "You don't know anything about Kaleido Stage! And I'm not about to leave here!" "Really?" "As long as I'm performing with your troupe I expect to treat me as a member of your company. That means when I jump tomorrow you're going to catch me." "If I fee like it…" with that Sora went over and climbed into her bed and just sat there. Meanwhile outside the tent Jennifer happened to have listened to the whole conversation that went on just now. She crossed her arms over her chest and thought "As much as I want to help Sora out on this…She needs to learn how to handle things on her own without any help from me…" the Harrington then sighed and walked off to do a little bit of star gazing.

The next morning at the stage area Ken and Sora were examining the layout of the area. "First we should talk about the performance space I guess." said Ken, Sora nodded "Right." "They want to fit in as many seats as they can into the tent so the stage is going to be small and the audience is going to be a lot closer to the performers here than they would be at Kaleido Stage. That means they can see your facial expressions when you're performing." "You're right…" Sora then climbed onto the trapeze set and looked around while thinking "So doing my routines from Kaleido Stage won't impress the audiences here…I have to pay attention to what everyone else is doing while they perform and follow the audience's response. Unless I can do that they'll never treat me like the company…" later in the late afternoon as the sun was beginning to set, they began their show for the audience. Once it came to Sora's part and she went out onstage, the Japanese girl easily dodge the keg barrels that rolled in while saying her lines. Soon Tank came out and began tossing Sora around, she was caught off guard by this but easily caught on and began doing tricks. She then got away from Tank and returned his kegs to him before facing Mr. Pack and his knives. Sora then made a small target with her arms for the knife wielding man who easily hit the target, missing Sora's arms with no problem. Pamela who was already on the trapeze began performing while throwing a white rose to which Dio came out and successfully scattered the petals with his whip. Suddenly Pamela launched herself high up into the air making everyone gasp while Sora watched in surprise "No! That's too high!" from backstage Jennifer smirked a bit as she saw this "Huh…So she's doing that trick…" and to everyone's amazement Pamela caught the swing just in time as she came down before doing her fire breathing. She then beckoned Sora to join her on the trapeze to which she did. The Japanese girl then launched herself towards Pamela who held out her hands and much to Sora's relief Pamela grabbed her hands and from there they continued on until reaching the end of the show.

Later once the audience was gone and everyone had change back into the regular clothes Sora, Pamela and Jennifer were outside admiring two little plants. "You're amazing Pamela…I've never seen someone jump that high on the swings before." said Sora "I'm glad you caught me on a good day I can only pull it off one in every five tries but I didn't want you to outdo me up there." told Pamela "There's no way I could!" "Sora…Theatrical Camp isn't about doing difficult maneuvers it's about performing. The most important thing is to take care of yourself so you can keep showing up onstage." "Working here is so different from Kaleido Stage I don't know how you guys do it day after day…Creating a new show every time for each audience." "That's what I thought too when I first came here from Kaleido Stage." "Huh?" "But now I really like the way we do things here…I'm not afraid to try new things." "That…Is nice I guess…" "You're a risk taker too aren't you?" "Well I…I guess you can say that…" "You know…I think you're just the kind of performer Kaleido Stage needs right now Sora." "Thanks…" soon Mr. Pack showed up and joined the girls "It looks like you're heading back sooner than I expected." Sora looked at him confused "Huh?" "Yes…Milo twisted his ankle during the performance today…I would rather cancel all the rest of the shows than have someone perform while they're injured." Mr. Pack then began water the two little plants, Sora gazed at them for a bit before asking "What kind of trees are those?" "They're Olives Sora…Pack plants them whenever they can it's kind of his hobby." told Jennifer "did you know that Olives are a symbol of peace? Because they can grow back even after they've been burned to the ground…I think…That's why I like them…Well that and they're essential for a good salad." said Pack, Sora began to laugh at this and while she did Jennifer made her way over to Ken who was standing a few feet away with Dio, she smiled at the boys "Hey you two…" the Harrington then stopped by Dio's side who looked at her "She's charming you know…I've seen a lot of people play that princess even you and Pamela, Jennifer…But I've never seen anyone bring the kind of talent and energy to it like Sora did today…I think she'll be better than anyone we've ever seen if she just gets the right kind of guidance." "Hmm…You have a point there Dio…" "Don't worry! I'll make sure she gets the right kind of help she needs!" said Ken, Dio then grabbed Jennifer's hand "I hope you and the others a safe trip back home. I'll miss seeing your lovely face Jennifer…" he gently gave a kiss to her hand which made Jennifer blush "You still manage to flatter me with your words Dio and thank you for those kind words." Dio smiled at her and chuckled a bit before gazing up at the beautiful starry night along with the others.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It was another peaceful morning at the dormitory, Sora was in her room happily sleeping in her cozy bed when she slowly awoke to someone's beautiful singing. She sleepily looked up only to be hit hard in the side by Sarah's leg who turned out to be the beautiful voice "Time to get up sleepy head!" "Argh!" Jennifer who happened to be in the room had watched the whole thing and said "Uh…Sarah? Did you really have to do that?" Minutes later Sora had got up and dressed herself before following Sarah and Jennifer outside. There they girls began changing the walkway's light bulbs. "Don't think that you can lie in bed all day just because you're on holiday." told Sarah, Sora tiredly yawned before answering the diva "But I haven't had a chance to sleep in since I've got back from Theatrical Camp…" "You met Pamela there didn't you? So anyway how is she doing?" "She's fine! And she showed my the most amazing trapeze trick!" "Oh yes…I remember that trick she was rarely able to do it successfully so we never let her put it into any performances." "Oh…I guess it would be hard to do it every show…I mean I saw it with my own eyes and it was incredible! It was like I was watching a miracle! It gave me goosebumps! I mean to jump straight up from your swing so high and come back down and catch the swing you just jump from it was unbelievable!" "Kaleido Stage just wasn't the place for her talents." told Jennifer and soon they had replaced all the light bulbs and Sarah turned to the girls smiling "There! That's the last one, thanks for your help girls!" "Being dorm supervisor is a tough job isn't it?" asked Sora, Sarah happily nodded "That's right! Don't you forget it!"

Suddenly the girls heard shouting and looked to find a huge crowd standing right outside Sarah's room. The diva looked confused at this "What's going on? Jennifer…Are they here for you?" "Uh…No…I'm not even expecting to do an interview at all…" "Uh…I think they're looking for you Sarah…" said Sora, soon the huge crowd spotted the girls and began heading towards them. Both Jennifer and Sarah began running away at this while yelling "Quick run Sora!" Sora watched after them in shock before starting to run and catch up with them. While Sora was skipping down the steps towards the beach she yelled "Wait Sarah! Why are they after you?" she soon stopped by Sarah's side to find the diva laying face down on the sand with Jennifer sitting by her side "Oh Sarah! Are you ok?" Sarah lifted her face from the sand and looked at the Japanese girl "I can't run anymore…Please get out of here Sora, you too Jennifer! Before they find you both too!" "Sarah why are they chasing you?" while the crowd came closer to the girls, a dark skinned man showed up with a bouquet of roses and kneel down holding Sarah's hand as she sat up "Sarah…My eternal diva I want to take you away from all of this." "Andy…" Sora and Jennifer watched in shock as the man named Andy kissed Sarah's hand and the huge crowd which turned out to be reporters and photographers who began taking photos. A blond haired woman then approach Sarah and Andy "Tell me Ms. Dupont is it true you're going to leave Kaleido Stage to become an artist at ADX? Andy Lowe's mega hot label?" "I'm sorry I don't know what you're talking about." "Yes it is." told Andy having the diva looked at him in surprise "Andy?" "Huh, what?" exclaimed Jennifer and Sora, Sarah quickly got up "What are you saying? I've never considered leaving here." Andy got up also "Karlos is letting you go Sarah." "Huh?" "So Andy are you and Sarah an item now?" asked a reporter, Andy chuckled at this "A gentleman never tells." "Can you at least pose for us?" "As long as you make sure we look good." Andy then pulled Sarah closer to him and the photographers began taking photos. Not liking this at all the diva stomped on Andy's foot grabbed two reporter's microphones and turned them into nunchuks before twirling them around only to stop as the microphone hit her in the head. She threw the items on the sand "I think we've answered enough questions today…If there's anything else you'd like to know about ask Sora or Jennifer!" and with that Sarah dashed off, seeing the huge crowd coming towards them Jennifer grabbed the Japanese girl's hand and began dragging her away "Run Sora!"

Later Jennifer had gone off to do her own thing while Sora went and cleaned Jonathan's tank. While she moped the tank Sora groaned and said "Oh…What was that about?" the baby seal looked at his caretaker in wonder and Sora continued talking to herself "They said that Sarah was leaving to record for some record label I hope that she's not leaving Kaleido Stage…" "Sarah wait!" Sora climbed up the tank and looked to find Sarah running off crying with Jennifer chasing after her "What?…Is Sarah crying?…Oh no…" the Japanese girl quickly finished up her chore and filled Jonathan's tank back up with water before dashing over to the dormitory. There she found Sarah's door cracked open "It's open…" she slowly opened the door and looked inside to find Sarah sitting on her couch looking at something in her hands with Jennifer sitting by her side. "Sarah?" called Sora, the diva and Jennifer looked up a bit surprise to see her. "Oh…Sora…" said Sarah "Is it all right if I come in?" Sarah quickly wiped away her tears "Of course! I'm so sorry about earlier." Sora approached the diva and sat down on the couch "I didn't mind so much…It was…Kind of exciting…" "Then the next time a mob of reporters comes to my door I'm gonna turn them loose on you." "So…What's the picture of?" "Me…10 years ago…" Sora looked at the picture in Sarah's hands "Who are those other people?" "Oh…That's Andy on the right…And Karlos on the left…" "You look really happy with your friends Andy and Karlos…" Sora then stared at the picture in shock once realizing it was Kaleido Stage's owner in the photo "H-How come he looks so…So nice?" "It's funny…Back then we didn't have money to our names but we were following our dreams so we were happy. Andy wrote music, I sang and Karlos wowed the crowd with magic tricks. Karlos was more popular than Andy and I put together…He even had his own show in Las Vegas for awhile but then…He got injured…His fingers you see…" "But…Didn't they get better?" asked Jennifer, Sarah shook her head "Not enough to perform magic again…But Karlos was all right…He ensured his fingers, he took the money from his settlement and started Kaleido Stage with it. Owning a circus had always been a dream of his and it took every penny he had." "All of it?" asked Sora, Sarah giggled a bit "Well…He doesn't do anything halfway…So…I decided to follow Karlos…He told me not to come but it was so obvious that he really wanted me here…" "But…I don't understand if you really wanted to become a singer then…" "Then what?" "Why did you join the Boss' circus?" "Well…I was in love…" "Really? In love with the Boss? That's so…" "I don't know why I said that…I still am." "You mean right now? That's so weird…" "Well I suppose it would seem a bit strange to you but I've never…I've never tried to hide how I feel about Karlos from anyone…" "So…You're saying you gave up on your dream just so you could be close to the Boss?" "What? No…I don't think that I gave up my dream at all. It simply changed a bit in those days I wanted world tours and platinum albums, people everywhere listening to my songs on the radio…But I really enjoy singing here…There's no place I rather be in I feel that I'm need here and that feeling of being wanted and needed isn't just something that happens everywhere you go…But…I guess that's all over now…" and with that Sora stormed out of Sarah's room with the diva and Jennifer staring after her. "Just what is Sora going to do? It's not like she's going to change Karlos' mind, he's a bit stubborn at that…" thought Jennifer

20 minutes later Jennifer was roaming around the streets of Cape Mary, checking out some of the stores. Just as she stepped out of one store, the Harrington heard someone yelling out a name. Jennifer looked up as the voice starting coming closer and was surprise to see Sora running pass her yelling Karlos' name "S-Sora?" the Harrington then saw her stop at Mr. Policeman's car which had stopped in front of Sora. Jennifer quickly made her way over to the vehicle "Sora!" the Japanese girl turned at the sound of her name "Huh? Oh Jennifer!" "What in the world are you doing running and calling out Karlos?" "Well…When I left I went to go confront the Boss but he left the stage in his car so…I ran after him yelling his name hoping he would stop but…He didn't and I managed to lose him…" "Oh Sora…" "Jennifer please you've got to help me!" "With what?" "Convincing the Boss not to let Sarah go!" "I don't know Sora…" "Please Jennifer?" "All right calm down…Fine I'll help but I don't know how much I'll be of help…" "Oh thank you so much Jennifer! Hopefully with you by my side Karlos will change his mind!" "Let's hope so…"

10 more minutes passed and they were able to find Karlos' car outside one of the most fanciest restaurants in Cape Mary. "Umm…Sora? Do you really want to follow Karlos inside?" asked Jennifer "What? Of course we are!" "I was afraid you were going to say that…" Mr. Policeman then parked his car by the sidewalk and the three sneaked into the restaurant by hiding underneath a big serving cart. While they were sneaking their way through the restaurant Sora couldn't help but mutter underneath her breath "I can't believe he's going out to lunch at a time like this!" "Did you see where he's sitting?" asked Mr. Policeman, they stopped moving and Sora lifted the cloth to see Karlos and Andy sitting at a table together 3 feet away from where they are "Right over there!" "Let's try and get closer!" "Roger that!" and they slowly made their way over to Karlos' table. Once they were close enough they stopped the cart by a wall and began listening in on the conversation that's occurring right now. "You have a chance…10 years ago the only thing you ever cared about was perfecting that magic act of yours…And now the only thing you care about is Kaleido Stage…I feel sorry for Sarah…I just want to be positive that you're ready to let her go Karlos…" said Andy, the Kaleido Stage owner sat there for a moment and soon answered "Yeah…I don't need her anymore…" "He doesn't need Sarah?" wondered Sora, Andy leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table, lacing his fingers together "You know…Back then I never stood a chance against you and Sarah…I didn't have anything to offer…But now I'm the one who's in the position to make all her dreams come true…And I will…Because unlike you Karlos I truly love Sarah with all my heart…I'd like to make a toast to our future together." "A toast?" Sora said in disbelief, Karlos gave a simply nod "Fine…" Jennifer quickly turned her attention to the Japanese girl and whispered "Sora…Don't even try to blow our co-" unfortunately to her dismay Sora stood up and threw the cart off of them "Nooooo!" everyone the whole restaurant stared at the three. Karlos feeling slightly annoyed to see the Japanese girl said "Sora! And you're here also Jennifer?" Andy looked at his old friend asking "You know them?" "They're in the company…What are you girls doing here?" "No! What are you doing? Deciding what's bests for Sarah without even bothering to ask her what she wants!" exclaimed Sora "This is none of your business! Now go!" growled Karlos "No! Not until you listen to what I have to say!" "Get out!" "No way! Not until you hear me out!" "I'm warning you!" "Just listen to me Boss!" Jennifer sighed and muttered to herself "Stubbornness mules…The both of them…" while the two continued to argue with one another Andy butted into their conversation "Ok, ok! Stop shouting and we'll listen…Is that a deal Karlos?" "Yeah! Thank you very much!" said Sora who focused all of her attention on Karlos "Boss…Sarah loves being at Kaleido Stage…She's not interested in working at any place else…You know it wasn't true when you said you didn't need her there." "What good would it do lying about that? Sarah is dead weight around here." Jennifer looked at him in shock and approached the Boss exclaiming "Karlos! That's an awful thing to say!" "Well the truth hurts sometimes Jennifer…Now will you both get out of here?" "But you needed Sarah for the music to even start Kaleido Stage! So how-" "Look I never told her I needed her if she chose to believe that's why she here that's her fault." "You mean to tell me you've just been using her all this time? That's despicable!" told Andy "You think so?" said Karlos "I guess I knew you could be a little difficult and that sometimes you can seem a little rude…But Kaleido Stage brings so much joy to people that…I thought for sure you had to have a good heart…I guess I couldn't have been more wrong about you…" told Sora, Karlos then stood up and began making his leave "Excuse me but I've got a business to run." "I'll pick Sarah up later today." told Andy "Ok." "Ok? How could you turn your back on her like this? How could you?" demanded Sora, Karlos just simply ignored the girl and left the restaurant. Jennifer stared after the boss and muttered "You're such a fool Karlos…"

Soon both Sora and Jennifer returned to the dormitory and stood outside Sarah's room, Jennifer knocked upon the door "Sarah?" "Come in!" Sora opened the door "We were just…" she stopped once seeing some of Sarah's things were packed in boxes, the diva looked at the girls "Sorry…It's a bit of a mess…" Jennifer entered the room with Sora following. "What are you doing?" asked the Japanese performer "Andy called to say he'll be picking me up later this evening…It looks as if I'm going to be the next ADX Record superstar! Oh I wish I could've thrown a big going away party but…Well I guess it can't be helped…" "So you're all right with this?" asked Jennifer "I'm not sure yet Jennifer…Everything has happened so quickly I don't know what to think…I do know that I've been with Karlos for over 10 years…And at this time he's never lied to me once so this morning when he told me that he doesn't need me here…I was shocked but…It must be true…" Sarah then began crying and Jennifer quickly went over to the diva pulling her into a hug "But Sarah…We do need you…" she quickly wiped away her tears and gently push Jennifer back "When you girls send me off today be cheerful all right? I couldn't take anything gloomy…Oh look at me standing around when there's work to be done. The moving company will take care all the big stuff but I still haven't finished packing all of my clothes…Oh! And I'm going to need the nunchuks and broadsword too…"

In Mia's room Sora and Jennifer had just told her and Anna what's going on. Currently the girls were checking ADX's website on Mia's computer and were surprise to find a profile of Sarah already there. "They've already got an artist profile of her on the ADX website!" exclaimed Mia "That was fast!" said Anna "How are we going to keep her from going?" wondered Sora "I don't know…If someone I love said that they didn't need me I wouldn't wanna stay!" admitted Jennifer, Sora nodded at this "You've got a point…" "And I heard that top record companies tried to sign her but this is the first time that she's agreed to it!" told Mia "And Karlos never said anything? How come he's decided to let her go now?" wondered Anna "You're right…It doesn't make sense that he's changed his mind about Sarah…" said Jennifer "Is it because she doesn't bring in the audience like you or Layla does?" "Actually a lot of people come just to see her…Karlos is going to take a hit if people find out she's gone…" soon the girls met up with Ken and Marion telling them about their conversation. "It's a classic love triangle…Those three are so wrapped up with each other that they don't know which ends up anymore…" told Marion, Mia swooned at this "How exciting! Two friends have been fighting over Sarah for 10 years!" "But Sarah only loves Karlos all long!" said Marion "Now Andy is ready to take her back for good!" "But could it possibly make Karlos stop fighting for her?" "Could it be that pretty new girl Sora caught the Boss' eye?" Sora stared at the two in disbelief along with Anna and Ken while Jennifer tried not to laugh at this. "Join us next time on troubled love!" exclaimed Mia and Marion "Uh…I don't think so…" said Anna, Mia simply shrugged "Well…Why else would the Boss just decide to let her go after all this time?" "Well…Maybe he just realized that he doesn't love her anymore." said Ken "We've got to do something guys…To stop this…" told Sora "There it is ladies and gents Sora's specialty." said Anna "So what do you think we should do Sora?" asked Jennifer, Marion nodded "Yeah…What can we do?" "Hmm…Let me think…" said the Japanese girl

Later after Sora confronted Fool for some advice she quickly came up with her plan and enlisted the help of Jennifer, Ken, Marion, Anna and Mia. As the sun was setting Mia and Anna had Sarah and Andy come to the stage while Sora and Jennifer headed towards Karlos' office. The Kaleido Stage owner turned to the sound of the doors slamming open and saw Sora and Jennifer standing there in bunny costumes "Sora, Jennifer what are you doing?" "I am a mystical seer, a magical rabbit!" said Sora "And we'll use our psychic powers to find out how you're really feeling Karlos." said Jennifer as Sora secretly sent Fool to search around Karlos' office, the Kaleido Stage owner got up from his seat and away from his desk "You two get out of my office right now!" Sora then flipped her way over towards Karlos and landed on top of his desk "Ha, ha we can't! Not until you start telling us the truth!" "What am I lying about? I really want you girls out of my office!" both she and Jennifer began doing flips and jumps over Karlos who growled "Have you two lost your mind?" "We're not going anywhere Boss until you tell us how you feel about Sarah!" chanted the girls "That's none of your business!" "You still haven't answered our question!" said Jennifer, Sora began twirling around Karlos "Come clean! We know what's on your mind! You wanna say Sarah don't go!" "Stop this!" "I don't know what I'll do without you!" said Jennifer while jumping over the Kaleido Stage owner. "Sora, Jennifer!" barked Karlos "I love you Sarah! Please don't stop singing for Kaleido Stage Sarah!" said Sora, Karlos began growling before yelling at the girls "I don't feel anything for her ok?" they stopped what they were doing and the Japanese girl happen to spot Fool giving her a thumbs up after finding something. Sora then turned on her hidden mic which Ken and Marion brought the feed out onto the stage for Sarah to hear. "If that's the case then you won't mind answering a question." said Sora "What?" said Karlos "How come you have that picture sitting on your desk?" Karlos quickly turned around and was shocked to find the picture frame of him, Sarah and Andy "Huh? But…How did that get there?…" "Yeah…How did that get there?" thought Jennifer, Sora laughed a bit at this "Ha, ha! Never underestimate the powers of the magical rabbits! If you don't care about Sarah anymore then why do you keep her picture on display?" Karlos tiredly sighed and turned to the girls "Sora…Jennifer…What I'm about to say is never going to leave this room…It's true that 10 years ago no…Even after that I needed to keep Sarah close…Her songs brought something to Kaleido Stage that no one else could…She meant so much to me…In the beginning there were times I thought I would fail but she always stayed by me…In time it became hard for me to imagine my life without her I didn't know how I would survive…You two may think this sounds conceited but I knew she would never leave me…the only way she'd be free to pursue her own dream…Was if I let her go…But I was too selfish…Too much of a coward to let her leave I couldn't imagine losing her so for 10 years I've been standing in the way of her happiness…I just couldn't live with that anymore…Then Andy came to me and made his offer…He can do things for Sarah I never could…Of course I still need her Sora, Jennifer…I'll always need her but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't let her go…"

With Sarah she began crying a bit as she listened to the whole conversation "Such a fool Karlos…" the diva then dried her eyes and turned to Andy "Andy…I'm so sorry…" "I understand I can't compete with Karlos…Call me if you ever get tired of his little games." and with that he left the stage while Sarah began making her way to the office where Kaleido Stage owner was still talking to Jennifer and Sora. "If you two really care about Sarah you won't breath a word about this to anyone understood?" said Karlos, the girls looked at each other then back at their boss "Uh…Too late…" "What?" exclaimed Karlos and looked at them in shock, the door then opened followed by Sarah's voice "That's right!" Karlos quickly turned around shock to find the diva standing there who said "I heard every word." the Kaleido Stage owner turned his attention back to the girls "But how?" Sora then pulled out her mic showing it to her boss who growled "A microphone!" "We'll be leaving you two alone now!" said Jennifer, both she and Sora flipped their way out of the room, slamming the door behind them and leaving two lovers alone to talk. While they were walking down the hall Jennifer wrapped her arms around Sora hugging her tightly "You're wonderful you know that Sora I don't know how you manage to pull things like this all the time." "I guess what Anna said is right…This is my specialty." Jennifer giggled at this along with Sora and the girls continued their way down the hall.

A day later and everyone's vacation was over thus they began performing Arabian Nights once more. Backstage while everyone was getting ready Sarah and Jennifer approached Sora, Mia and Anna who were stretching. "Are you ready girls? It's the first show after the holiday so let's give it everything we've got all right?" said Sarah, the three friends enthusiastically nodded "Right!" Sarah giggled as Jennifer gave the diva a hug, Layla, Charlotte and Julie looked on confused while Karlos came backstage and yelled "It's show time!" the whole company nodded "Right!" and with that they begun their show with Sarah's beautiful singing arming everyone's hearts along the way.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Another fantastic performance of Arabian Nights was over and done with, currently in the girls' dressing room Mia was showing everyone something on her laptop screen "And now all that you've been waiting for…My homepage!" the girls gasp in excitement and at how cute the page looked. "It's adorable!" told Sora "Hold on a second…You've got a link on the Kaleido Stage's site?" wondered Anna, Mia simply waved her hand "Don't worry! I've already asked the Boss and he said it was ok." "It's amazing!" exclaimed Sora, Mia began navigating through her page "There's still a bunch of stuff I still want to do with it before I'm finished so far Anna is the only one I've got pictures of in the gallery." she began showing the pictures on the screen and the girls began chatting excitedly as they saw them. "Hey…Where did you get those?" asked Anna, Mia giggled a bit "I took them! You're really photogenic when you're trying to come up with a good gag." "Are you going to put pictures of everyone there?" asked Sora, Mia then sighed and laid her cheek against her hand "Well…I was going to do that but maybe not…" "Why not?" "Because lately it seems like someone different is quitting everyday!" "What?" "Didn't you know about this? Last week three people quit at the same time!" "Huh?" "It's too much work to put pictures of people on the site if I don't know who's staying and who's going…So that's why I've decided I'm gonna channel my energy and start writing a series of original stories!" "What kind of stories?" "Oh all kinds! Love stories, horror stories, history stories…" "How about something funny?" suggested Anna only to have Mia quickly reject it "No! Not interested!" from outside the door Ken knocked and said "Sora! There's someone here to see you!" "Coming!" once she opened the door Ken said "I think she's someone you know from Japan." "She's Japanese? I wonder who could it be…" "She said she'll wait for you in the lobby." the performer then began making her way there "Thanks Ken! I wonder if it's someone from the rhythmic gymnastics club?" Ken watched in surprise as he saw Sora leave while holding her back "Oh no…"

In the lobby Sora began looking around the place "Now where…" she stopped once spotting someone standing by the window and approached them "Excuse me!" the person who turned out to be a girl turned around and said "You sure took your time. I was starting to get tired of waiting." Sora looked at the girl in completely surprise "Ah! Minami?" "What's wrong? Does it bother you that I came to visit?" Sora furiously shook her head "No, no! I'm just surprised to see you here!" "I want to catch up but I'm sick of staying in this lobby so let's just say we go get some coffee. I mean you can get out of here till the evening performance right?" Sora nodded at everything her friend said, Minami then gave the performer a look "And Sora…I won't be seen in public with you, if you wear that." Sora looked at herself and was surprised to find herself still wearing her costume "Huh? I'm still in costume? Be right back!" and the girl dashed away, returning to the dressing room to change.

Later that day as it was getting kind of close to the evening performance of Arabian Nights, Sora and Minami returned to the stage where the Japanese performer began showing her around. "And this is where our dressing rooms are!" said Sora upon entering the room, the friends found Sarah and Anna acting out some sort of scene with one another, Mia and Jennifer were there also but were simply watching. "Oh! No it wouldn't be fair to you! I can't even hold you in my arms!" said Sarah "Please! It doesn't even matter to me that you're just a ghost, I don't want to ever live without you!" said Anna, Sora stared at her friends before asking "What are you guys doing?" "Hey Sora!" greeted Anna, Sarah then noticed Minami standing beside the Japanese girl "Oh…And who is our visitor?" "This is Minami a friend from home." said Sora, Minami gave them a little wave "It's nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too." said the group, Sarah then jumped down from the table she happened to be standing on "When you came in we were acting out one of the stories Mia has posted on her website." "You want us to give you a part Sora?" asked Jennifer, the Japanese girl approached the group "What me?" "Yeah! I've got the perfect role for you too!" said Mia "What is it?" "The mysterious comic crazy girl!" "The mysterious what now?" Anna pouted at this "Oh! That sounds like the best part!" "She'll be perfect good choice Mia!" said Sarah "Can't I try another part? My lines are embarrassing!" said Anna, Jennifer giggled "Oh teenage girls are going to think you're adorable Anna!" "That's just what I said!" said Mia, Minami who was watching the whole thing and listening to their conversation couldn't help but smile at this.

Soon the performance of Arabian Nights had begun and Minami stayed behind in the dressing room to watch on the television. She soon wandered into backstage just as the performance had ended and the company as taking their bows. Sora then came backstage once finishing the bows and praising everyone for a good show. Then Ken approached the Japanese performer with Jennifer by his side "Sora…Do you have a minute?" she stopped and turned to them "Sure…" "Did I see you holding your back at curtain call?" asked Ken "Uh…No…I…" "Sora…You need to tell us the truth…If your body is hurting you need to let Ken know…" said Jennifer "I…" "Look Sora I'm not mad at you…It's perfectly understandable. You're body isn't trained like Layla's and mine but you're doing the same performance that we're doing day after day and it's bound to take its toll." "You're right…" "So…I was thinking maybe I could be your trainer." said Ken, Sora looked at him in surprise "My trainer?" "Uh…If you want me to…I already got permission from Karlos just incase. I figured thing we do is look at you diet, see if your eating things that can actually help you and then we'll figure out the rest as we go." "That'll be great! If it's not too much trouble." "Don't be silly! It's no trouble at all." Minami who was hiding behind some props heard the whole thing and couldn't help but feel a bit worried for her friend.

That evening Jennifer was just leaving the dormitory after having a nice chat with Sarah. Just as she walked out the front entrance, the Harrington was surprised to find Yuri outside leaning against his sports car "Yuri! What are you doing here?" "I'm here to give you a ride back to your apartment and also I want to have a talk with you." "Oh…All right…" the handsome performer opened the passenger side door for Jennifer who got in. He closed it and made his way over to the driver's side, once inside he shut the door and started his car and began driving down the road. The ride was silent for a bit until Jennifer spoke "So what is it you wanted to talk about with me, Yuri?" "It has to do with Kaleido Stage." "What about it?" "I want you to quit Kaleido Stage." she looked at him in shock "W-What did you just say?" "I said I want you to quit Kaleido Stage, Jennifer." "But why?" "Because I want you to come work for me since I'll be withdrawing from the company tomorrow. In turn I'm going to make a new circus one that is better than Karlos' Kaleido Stage and I want you to be apart of it. I want you to be by my side Jennifer." "You've got to be joking…" "Unfortunately I'm not…I'm very serious about this and I'm very serious about wanting you by my side." soon Yuri stopped his car in front of an apartment complex and looked at the Harrington "I'll give you some time to think about this…But I want your answer tomorrow and I will come to see you before I leave the stage." "Unfortunately I've already make up my mind…And my answer is no! I'm not quitting Kaleido Stage or joining your company at all!" "Oh Jennifer you don't know what you're saying." "But I do and it's final answer!" and with that Jennifer got out of Yuri's car, slam the door behind her and ran inside the building. The handsome performer simply smirked as he watched the Harrington flee before driving away from the place.

The next day at the training facility Jennifer was wandering around the hallway going over what happened last night with Yuri. "I can't believe he asked that of me…Quitting Kaleido Stage…He's most likely the reason why a lot of people are quitting…Just what's wrong with him and what does he have to gain for all this trouble he's causing?" thought Jennifer, her thoughts were soon broken as she bumped into someone who turned out to be Layla "Whoa easy there Jennifer." "Layla…" "Hey what's with the look on your face? Is something wrong?" "You could say that…" "Do you want to talk about it?" "How about later? For now I just wan to be alone." "Ok…If that's what you want." Jennifer then walked away without bidding Layla a good bye, who stared after her friend feeling very worried. 5 minutes later inside the practice room Sora, Mia and Anna were attending lessons along with the other performers. Currently they were jumping in place following the instructor's counts. While jumping Sora had just informed Anna and Mia about Minami leaving today. "So…The girl who was here…" started Mia "She's leaving for Boston after the show tonight." told Sora "She was one of your friends right?" asked Anna "Right." "But you always seem so nervous around her." said Mia, Sora nervously laughed at this "Ha, ha…Minami can be a little intimidating…" suddenly Sora fell to the floor and began quickly crawling backwards just as the instructor began furiously pirouetting towards her "What makes you think that you're allowed to talk during my class? You think that you're not going to be punished just because you're playing a starring role? You've got another thing coming!" Sora began apologizing over and over but quickly stopped once hitting her back against something. The Japanese girl looked up and was surprise to find Yuri standing right behind her "Oh Yuri!" the handsome performer turned his attention to the instructor "Excuse me…I need to borrow Sora…If that's all right with you of course…" "Oh certainly! You can have anything you want all you have to do is ask." "Thank you, you're too kind." Sora smiled in excitement once hearing this "How exciting! Yuri wants to talk to me!" as she and Yuri began to leave the room, Jennifer who happened to be in there practicing on her own watched the two in concern "Sora…"

At Cape Mary's most fanciest restaurant Sora and Yuri were currently having their lunch together. Right now Sora was having difficulty picking up her food with the silverware "I'm…So sorry…" "Don't be so nervous Sora." told Yuri "How can I not be nervous? I'm having lunch with Kaleido Stage's biggest star! Someone I've been admiring since I was a little kid." "It's good to hear that because I…I was going to ask you to come away with me." "What? What do you mean by that?" "I want you to come work for me Sora…After you quit Kaleido Stage." Sora stared at him in shock, not believing what she just heard "What did…You just say?" "I'll be withdrawing Karlos' company as of today. I'm going to create a new circus, I want you to be apart of it." "But Yuri…" "You'll be the star of my show…Not Layla…Not anyone else…" "But what about Jennifer?" "Currently I'm trying to convince her to quit too and I may need your help to do that…That is if you're willing to quit Kaleido Stage." "You're not serious…You'll never leave the company right? You're just testing me…" "This isn't some kind of trick…Kaleido Stage isn't…The perfect place it's made out to be…You'll find out sooner or later…Like I did…I'm not asking you to decide right now but I will need your answer in the next few days…"

Back at the stage everyone was slowly getting ready for tonight's performance, currently in Jennifer's dressing room she was sitting in front of the mirror with her head in her hands. She stayed like that until hearing a soft knock on her door, not caring whoever it was at the moment Jennifer said "Come in…" the door opened and the person entered the room, closing the door behind them "Jennifer…" the Harrington looked up from her hands and turned around to find her best friend standing there "Oh…Layla…" "You heard the news right?" "Yeah…I just can't believe it…25 people turned in their resignation and Karlos is cancelling the rest of the performances after tonight…And it's all because of him…" "Jennifer what do you mean?" "It's Yuri…He's the one that's making most of our company quit! He's planning to make a new circus that's better than Kaleido Stage and in turn he's practically stealing most of our people from here!" "How do you know that's what he's doing?" "Because…Last night while giving me a ride home…Yuri asked me to quit Kaleido Stage and come work for him…" "What…Well what did you do?" "I refused of course! Layla…What are we going to do?" "I'm not sure…But for now we need to pull off another perfect performance and not let this current problem bother us at all." "I suppose you're right…" Jennifer then tiredly sighed causing Layla to go over to her best friend and rubbed her back in hoping to comfort her somewhat.

Later during the performance of Arabian Nights, it reached the fight scene and went off just fine. Though while the scene progressed Jennifer noticed something about Sora and thought "Something is off about Sora…And it looks like it's bothering her real bad…" as it came to the part where Sora performed her Diablo trick, while she was zip lining down the tightrope the Diablo suddenly came off the rope and Sora began falling towards the fire. Both Layla and Jennifer gasp before going after Sora, Jennifer managed to grab the end of the stick and held it tightly while Sora held onto the other end, in turn Layla caught Jennifer's other hand and held onto the tightrope. The whole audience roared in happiness as they saw this and began clapping for the performers. Once the whole show was over and the audience had left, Sora, Layla and Jennifer stayed onstage and stared at the ship. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier…" apologized Sora "Oh don't worry about it…The audience couldn't be more happier." said Layla "Yuri approached you about leaving today, didn't he?" questioned Jennifer, Sora nodded at this "Yes…" "What did you say?" "No!" "I see…" "You know…Someone also approached my Father about buying Kaleido Stage out from him…Supposedly a business man from Las Vegas…" told Layla, Jennifer looked at her friend in surprise "What?" "I've known a long time that Yuri was up to something but I didn't know what…" "And you didn't even bother to tell me this at all?" "I know and I'm sorry…I just didn't want you to worry…Though I wished he would either talked to either you or me about all of this and…" "And maybe make Yuri reconsider this…" "Right…" Sora stared at the two best friends for a bit before turning her attention back to the ship "What will they do with the ship? It doesn't look like we'll be using it anytime soon…" "I know…If only we hadn't lost so many people…But I guess there will be no way to replace Yuri…" said Jennifer who then began walking away "I'm calling it a night…See ya later…" Layla began leaving also "I have to go also…" "Good night Layla…Jennifer…" said Sora, two women didn't give a reply back and went their separate way. The Japanese girl watched them feeling sad about the current situation they're facing before taking her leave too and hoped everything will turn out all right soon.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Currently right now in Karlos' office, Sora and Mia confronted their Boss and had just showed him one of Mia's stories. "Well Boss?" asked Sora "Hmm…" Mia feeling self conscious about her story said "Sora it's no use he doesn't like it." Karlos put down the story and looked at the girls "One week…Have it ready in front of a audience a week from today." the girls looked at him in surprise before firmly nodding "Yes sir!" Later at the dormitory Mia was in a study room with Sora and Mia, trying to come up with a rough outline of the story for the show and only has three days to do it. "Oh…Only three days?" "You can do it!" encouraged Sora "Everyone in the company is counting on you Mia!" added Anna "Will you two stop talking to me? How am I suppose to write when I can't even hear myself think?" "S-Sorry!" apologized Sora and Anna "This is hopeless! Hopeless!" cried Mia who then stared at her laptop screen "All right…Back to work!" it was quiet for just a second and Mia hit her head on the table "Oh…Who am I kidding? I can't do this…" "Don't be silly." said Anna "Of course you can! Of course you can!" told Sora, Mia looked at her friends with a little bit of hope in her eyes "Really?" "You're just not good at working under pressure that's all." told Anna, Sora nodded at this "Anna is right! You've got writer's block because you're trying to write a master piece just do your best!" "Just be yourself and you'll be fine!" Mia perked up at this and smiled "Hey thanks you guys! I was kind of freaking myself out a little bit…" "And from now on we'll keep quiet while you're working." said Anna "Yeah we'll just here to help if you need us." said Sora, Mia then sighed and placed her hands on the keypad "First I should just relax and-" suddenly the door to the study was opened by Sarah who carried a tray of snacks and drinks in one hand "Have you written a fantastic masterpiece yet? I thought I'd bring you something to eat since you're single handily saving the show!" Sarah then stared at Mia in confusion as she had her head on her laptop. Sora and Anna who were also staring at their friend muttered "Oh Sarah…" then Jennifer showed up right next to the diva and placed a hand on her shoulder "You really shouldn't have said that Sarah." "Oops! Ha, ha my bad!"

The two women then joined the girls at the table and had just told them of Mia's problem only to have Sarah start laughing at this. "It isn't funny it's serious!" exclaimed Mia who then munching on a cookie, Sarah ceased laughing and patted Mia on the back "Now, now just enjoy your break." "But you don't understand! I don't even know where to begin I mean…The Boss wants me to revise it but he doesn't say what part he doesn't like!" "Now that you mentioned it seems like he's always doing that kind of thing." said Sora, Anna nodded "That's right! When we were doing the Little Mermaid he told Sora to change her portrayal but he never told her how." "That's right! And if he told her what he wanted maybe then she wouldn't agonize over it so much." said Mia who then turned to Sarah and Jennifer "Why does he do that?" "Oh I…I don't know…I think Karlos has always been that way…Back when we were starting Kaleido Stage he used to change the show every day…We never did the same performance twice…But as the organization got bigger we had to have some kind of consistency from day to day…So we added more rehearsals and set the show in stone before we opened. It wasn't safe having 40 people onstage not knowing what they're suppose to do…But I think Karlos preferred working in the old way." told Sarah, Sora shook her head at this "I don't understand…" "Well…Think about the Little Mermaid…If he had told you exactly what to do when you played that role would you have felt disconnected to her as you did?" questioned Jennifer "I…I don't know Jennifer…" "But on the other hand it could just be that Karlos wants you to do the work for him! Ah, ha, ha , ha, ha, ha!" said Sarah, the girls just looked at the diva in disbelief, Jennifer smiled a bit and shook her head at this before turning her attention to Mia "So Mia…What new story are you writing for us?" "Well…Considering the cast size…I was thinking I'd adapt the ghost love story you, Sarah and Anna read…But it's still missing something…And I don't know how to make it more dramatic." "I see…Well…Maybe there's something around here to help you fix it."

5 minutes later and the group had 4 magazines lying open on the table, showing several acrobatic techniques. Sora pointed to one magazine picture "I've always wanted to work with cloth like that! Maybe I should try it!" "And I've always wanted to try breathing fire." said Sarah, Jennifer laughed a bi at this "But…Wouldn't that mess up your voice?" "I've always wanted to do motorcycle stunts!" told Anna "In the end whatever I'm gonna write is going to depend on who's left in the company." said Mia, Sarah nodded "Yeah…You're right…" "It kind of makes you wonder how good Yuri's shows will be…" said Anna "I heard that everyone who wants to leave Kaleido Stage is automatically guaranteed a spot in Yuri's company…" said Mia, they were all quiet for a moment until Sarah cheered "Come on Mia I want this play to be better than Shakespeare!" Jennifer chose this time to stand up from her chair "If you'll excuse me…" and the Harrington left the room with the others staring after her "What's wrong with Jennifer?" wondered Anna, Sora got up from her seat and began leaving the room "I'm gonna go and see." 5 minutes later on the sandy shore Jennifer stood there looking up at the starry sky. Sora spotted the Harrington a few feet away and approached her "Jennifer?" the performer took her gaze off the sky and turn it to the Japanese girl "Oh Sora…" "Are you all right?" "Yeah I am…Why?" "Well…It seems like something is bothering you…" "Seems like I can't hide anything from you Sora…Yeah something is bothering me…" "Is it about Yuri?" Jennifer looked at Sora a bit surprise and slowly nodded "Yes…How did you know?" "Lucky guess…Actually Jennifer…Do you happen to have feelings for Yuri?" "What makes you think that?" "I'm not sure…Somehow my gut is telling me that you do…" "Out of all the people especially Layla you managed to discover something that I've kept hidden pretty well for a long time." "Does that mean?" "Yes…I do have feelings for Yuri…Ever since the day I met him…But because of what he's doing I'm not really sure about what I feel for him anymore…" "Jennifer…" "Sora…Promise me that what we talked about here is never spoken around the others." "Of course Jennifer your secret is safe with me."

The next day Jennifer was at the training facility making her way towards the practice room and on the way she bumped into Ken "Oh…Hey there Ken." "Hello Jennifer…" noticing the look on the stage manager's face Jennifer said "Something bad has happened right?" "Yes…13 more people quit Kaleido Stage and went to Yuri's company…" "Just great…What else could go wrong?" "I don't know…So where were you heading?" "To the practice room and you?" "The same, Sarah told me Sora is already there and I was going there to tell her the bad news." "We'll go together." "All right." and they made their way to the practice room but as they were right outside the doors, Ken and Jennifer heard what sounded like Sora crying inside. "Sora…Is she crying?" wondered Jennifer, Ken sighed a bit and opened the door "So you've heard Sora…" the two were then shocked to find Sora tangled up in cloth and looked like she is being choked by it. "What the?" exclaimed Jennifer, both she and Ken hurried over to the Japanese performer. "Hold on Sora we've got you!" exclaimed Ken who grabbed a step ladder and placed it under Sora's feet which she planted them on. The Japanese performer untangled herself from the cloth and tiredly sigh "Oh…Thanks a lot…" "You could have really hurt yourself! If you wanted me to I could teach you how to do it." said Jennifer, Sora stepped down from the ladder "Thanks Jennifer…" "Anyway I came by to tell you that 13 more people quit. If this keeps happening there's only going to be about 10 of us left." told Ken, Sora looked at him in surprise "What?" she then turned her gaze to the floor and thought for a bit. The Japanese girl then looked at Jennifer "I know this may sound crazy and may seem desperate but could you come with me to go visit someone?" "Who Sora?" "I think you already know who." realizing what Sora meant by this Jennifer frowned but gave a simple nod.

Later a luxurious apartment complex, Jennifer and Sora made their way up the floors while they did the Harrington looked back at the Japanese girl "Are you sure about this Sora? Wanting to visit Yuri?" "Yes I am…I just need to know some things and I want you there to hear it for yourself." "If you say so." the girls soon reached a certain floor and stopped right in front of a door, Sora then pressed the doorbell intercom button. They waited until Yuri answered "Yes?" "It's Sora Naegino and Jennifer Harrington." told the Japanese performer "Come in." they did what they were told and entered Yuri's apartment, there they found the former Kaleido Stage performer with nothing but pants on. Yuri gestured them towards his living room "You girls have a seat." Jennifer took a seat on the couch with Sora automatically sitting right beside her. Yuri smiled a bit at the two "I'm so glad you came to visit me Sora…Especially you Jennifer." the Harrington simple scoffed and looked the other way "Think what you want I only came here because Sora asked me to." "I see…And what brings you ladies to my home?" "Uh…Well I…I was just thinking about what you were telling me at lunch the other day and I figured Kaleido Stage can't go on forever right? So I might as well make a clean break of it! You know cut off all ties and move on with my life but I'm not sure that's the right thing to do you know?" said Sora "You're a terrible actress you know that Sora? Just tell me what's on your mind." told Yuri, Sora looked to Jennifer who looked back and gave a quick nod. The Japanese performer sighed and looked back at Yuri "It's just that…I want to know…I want to know why you're working so hard to destroy Kaleido Stage Yuri…Why are you doing this?" "Because…I want revenge…This is the reason why I came to work at Kaleido Stage in the first place…My Father was a great trapeze artist he's the one I learned to train from, he was one of the founding members of Kaleido Stage…And Karlos murdered him…" both Jennifer and Sora looked at him in shock, Yuri then stood in front of the two "Sora…Jennifer…I want the two of you to join my company…Sora I still haven't found a leading lady in my roster yet, you've proved to have enough talent for that space. Jennifer I'm still serious about wanting you by my side, you can be my partner for this company, I need the both of you girls." "I…I don't know…" said Sora, Jennifer simply stood up from the couch "It's time for us to leave Sora…We've been here long enough." Sora stood up also and began leaving with Jennifer when Yuri stopped them "Before you girls leave…Can I have a minute with you Jennifer?" the Japanese performer looked at the Harrington a bit worried "Jennifer…" "Go on ahead and wait for me outside…I won't take long." "Ok…"

Once she stepped out of the apartment and closed the door behind her, Jennifer turned to the former Kaleido Stage performer "What is it you want to talk about now Yuri?" "I still want you to join my company Jennifer." "And like I said before Yuri my answer is no…" suddenly Yuri stormed up to Jennifer and pinned her against the wall "Do you even realize you're putting yourself in danger the longer you stay in Karlos' company?" "Yuri let me go!" "No not until you agree to quit Kaleido Stage!" "My answer is still no Yuri!" "Jennifer you're not safe there at all! Let me protect you from it!" "The only thing I need protecting from is you! You're trying to take my true happiness away and I can't stand that at all!" Jennifer then broke from Yuri's grip and ran out of the apartment, running pass Sora who chased after her "Jennifer!" Outside the Japanese performer found the Harrington near the elevator with her back against the wall, covering her face with her hands. Sora slowly approached the Harrington "Jennifer?…Are you ok?" the performer slowly nodded "Yeah…Just give me a minute to get myself together…" "What happened with you and Yuri?" "I…I really don't want to talk about it right now Sora…" "I understand…"

2 days later inside Karlos' office Mia had finished her rough draft of her story by merging two of her own stories together. Currently Mia stood there in the room and waited while Layla, Jennifer and Karlos read the story. Karlos soon put down his copy and began thinking, Layla also put hers down and looked at the boss "Well…You can't say I didn't warn you it would be like this Karlos…Mia is not a professional, she doesn't know what she's doing. Listen Simon Park is interested in helping us remount Cinderella I think it's out best bet Karlos." "And just how are we going to do that? Our company is really small now." said Jennifer "We'll just have to figure it out along the way." the phone on Karlos' desk beeped and the boss pressed a button "What is it?" "Simon Park is here to see you." "Send him in." Layla turned to Mia "Then it's settled everything is set. Mia you can leave." the writer sadly looked at the ground and nodded "Yes…" but before she could leave Karlos stopped her "Wait…Our next main stage show is going to be produce and directed by Mia Guillem." Layla quickly stood up from her seat once hearing this "Karlos!" he simply ignored the Hamilton and focus his attention on Mia "Your script needs revision, you still have 4 days till the deadline." the door to the office opened followed by a voice "Just my luck I thought I was going to work for you guys but I was edged out by someone prettier." everyone looked to find Simon Park standing at the door who now began to make his leave. Layla tried to stop him "Simon wait!" "Please don't go!" said Karlos this made Simon stop in his track and the boss continued "I would like it if you act as Mia's mentor and script supervisor for this project." Layla turned to the boss "Karlos that is an insulting offer!" "Not at all…It sounds like an interesting offer I'd be delighted to. Well I've got another appointment to go to, send a copy of the script to my house. All the rest of that contract stuff can be done through my agent, see you soon!" said Simon who then left the office, Jennifer went over to Mia and patted her shoulder "Well Mia looks like you've got your work cut out for you." "You mean…The Simon Park is going to help me?" "Well that's what Karlos wants just give it your all."

30 minutes later after spending some time with Mia and Anna in the dormitory study room, Sora began leaving the building for a walk when she bumped into Sarah and Jennifer who were carrying bags of grocery. "Oh! Sorry Sora." said Sarah, the Japanese girl shook her head "Oh no I am!" "Where were you off to Sora?" asked Jennifer "Well…Umm…I was…" the girls then headed back to Sarah's room where Sora had told them what was on her mind and it happened to by Yuri's story. "I see…So that's what Yuri had been telling people…" said Sarah, Sora nodded "Yes…" "Sarah…Did Karlos really pressured Yuri's father into attempting a risky maneuver and used his death to promote Kaleido Stage?" asked Jennifer "It's true that our investor's at that time wanted us to cover Arlen's death…Which meant that the rumors spread quickly and our audience increased…However…Arlen tried that maneuver on his own nobody made him do it." "Then you're saying Yuri lied to me and Sora?" "No I think Yuri honestly believes that's what happened but you think he would know better than that…If someone is afraid to jump then they can't jump…Karlos has been blaming himself for Arlen's death ever since it happened and I think that's why he hasn't tried to stand up to Yuri…Oh…He has some pretty difficult things to deal with don't you girls think? Sora I don't you or the others to worry about this you've got enough on your plate, helping Mia get her script ready." Sora nodded at this "Right!" then the phone began to ring which Sarah quickly went to get "I'm coming, I'm coming!" both Sora and Jennifer sat on the couch quietly as they listened Sarah talking on the phone "Hello how can I help you? Oh yes! Could you hold on for a moment please?" the diva then looked at the two smiling "It's Simon Park calling for Mia!" they smiled at this and Sora quickly got up grabbed the phone and ran out of the room to give it to Mia.

Back in the study room Sarah, Sora, Jennifer and Anna had gathered at the table with Mia who was currently talking on the phone with Simon "Right! You want me to cut pages 2 though 4...And what was that about pages 5 through 24?…Oh…You want me to cut those too?…Oh ok…You want me to change the last scene but that…That's when the hero and heroine say good bye for the very last time…Ok…Bye…" Mia put down the phone and the girls looked at her in worry. "Mia?" said Sora, the writer sighed "So basically…I have to write the whole thing over…" "All of it?" asked Anna, Mia stood up from her chair "So that's it I guess I'm gonna go tell the Boss I'm sorry…Who am I kidding? I don't know what I'm doing here! I'm sorry I let you down!" she began leaving the room in a hurry but Sora managed to stop her "No wait Mia! Why are you just giving up?" "Because…Because what if I keep trying and I can't get it right? There's no sense in wasting everyone's time!" "You won't!" "I'm trying to do what's best for the company!" "Then you should keep writing Mia, Karlos would have never asked you to do this if he wasn't certain you could." told Jennifer, Mia slowly turned and face the group "But…" Anna stood up from her chair "You want to be a writer so write Mia! You'll regret it if you give up on this." "Once you start believing you can't do something it's over…When we first started the Triple Illusion I thought we'd never get it…It seemed like no matter how hard we tried we always failed…I was so frustrated, I even stepped down from the role remember? But you wouldn't let me give up…You said "I'd rather try to perfect this with Anna and Sora."….I knew I had to succeed I thought to myself I won't let Mia down no matter what! That's why I pushed myself! Mia…Please don't give up on this." said Sora "I can do this…I won't give up! I can do this! I can do this!" thought the writer who then took a deep breath and firmly said "I won't give up! I won't give up…" the girls then curiously looked at the writer who returned to her seat and began furiously typing. "This story is about refusing to give up hope…It's perfect! Everyone else left Kaleido Stage but us still we keep performing and if the show is successful maybe we can win back some of the people who had gone to Yuri's company…That's perfect! I can use all of this in my story! Great! And now I'd like to see everyone we've got left right away!" Anna and Sora smiled at this and nodded. Anna gave Mia a thumbs up "Right away!" "We'll be right back!" 5 minutes and the remaining company had gathered in the study room where Mia began explaining things to them "And so as you know we don't have that many people left, I need you all to prepare three different kinds of routines. They can be anything just use as many of different kind of techniques as you can." "How can we come up with that if we don't know the story?" asked a girl "I'm sorry but the script isn't finished yet." the company began talking amongst each other only to quiet down when Layla asked "Will it be finish by the end of the week?" "I'll have it ready! Don't worry!" said Mia "Then I guess we should start practicing." everyone firmly nodded at this "Right!" and thus from there on they begun practicing.

The days pass by with everyone working really hard with their routines while Mia and Simon worked on the script together. It didn't take long for everyone to come up with their routines and began practicing them along with Ken and the remaining tech who were preparing the stage for the company. Then one day Jean decided to show them an example of a circular swing, twirling around "This is what I've been working on…What do you think?" Layla smirked a bit as she saw it "Now that looks interesting!" Jennifer nodded in agreement "Indeed!" "I can't wait to try it out!" exclaimed Sora. Layla looked at the Japanese performer for a moment before calling her "Sora?" "Yes Layla?" "Of all the people left at Kaleido Stage, you're the only one who's skilled enough to be mine and Jennifer's partner. The three of us will work on something together and it's not up for discussion." "Ok!" Soon it came to the day where Mia showed the final script to Karlos, currently she was standing in his office watching as he, Layla, Jennifer and Simon were reading the script. After minutes of waiting Simon was the first to put his copy down "It's just missing on thing…" "What?" asked Mia "All the ladies costume has to have shorter skirts…" "Huh?" Simon gave a joking smile to the writer "Just kidding! It's perfect kid!" "I want to open this show a week from today, start rehearsals immediately!" ordered Karlos, both Layla and Jennifer quickly got up from their seats "Let's go Mia!" the writer nodded "Right!" she then looked towards Simon "Thank you so much for everything!" and Mia quickly followed after Layla and Jennifer out of the room.

Soon Mia had gathered the small company together and began explaining her story to everyone "The setting is a world of fire and darkness, the story is about two groups of people who fight for dominion. Originally these two used to be best friends but as they got older they began to change…But after such a long time of fighting a third person steps in and tried to convince them that they should live together like they use to. The friends realized they were just struggling against the people they've respected the most in the world, this seems to empty to them and in acknowledging each other's strengths, they were able to forgive each other and live in harmony once more. So when they finally stop fighting with each other I think that's when they obtain true freedom…That's what I think I wanna call the show! Freedom!" everyone began excitedly chatting with each other loving the story, Jennifer who was standing next to Layla nudge her "Hey…The story kind of reminds me of you, Sora and me don't you think?" "Yes…Shall we get started?" "Of course!" After a whole week of none stop rehearsals, the small company performed their show in front of a large audience. Everything was going smoothly and perfect, once reaching the end of the show the whole audience roared with happiness and began clapping. Happy with their performance the whole company grabbed hands and bowed together for their audience, now determined to continue making this show great for more people to see.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

2 weeks have quickly flown by ever since the opening performance of Freedom and currently Sora and Anna were reading the newspaper's review on the show to Mia "Kaleido Stage's new director Mia Guillem has burst on the scene with unrivaled brilliance!" "Oh this is so exciting!" exclaimed Mia, little did they knew that in Yuri's apartment he had a copy of the newspaper and read its review. Angered by what he read, Yuri crushed the paper in his hand and threw it to the ground, growling under his breath "Don't think you can get away with this!" back with Sora and the others, the company had gathered backstage and listened to Ken as he was reading an article on the newspaper "There have been rumors that Kaleido Stage is finished but this energetic and young cast proves that the company is stronger than ever." "I really think that could be true!" said Sora "and no matter how Yuri tries to sabotage us, people can't ignore us as long as we keep doing good work!" told Anna I've worked on a lot of productions over the years but I think this one might just be my favorite one of all." said Jean, this made Sora, Anna and Mia gasp. "You're not just saying that?" asked Sora "No way! My Dad is old fashioned! He never says something he doesn't mean1" said Marion, Jean looked at his daughter "What do you mean old fashioned?" everyone began laughing at this and Sora couldn't help but say "Wouldn't it be great if the show sold out and we had to extend?" "Oh! If the audience keeps growing we just might have a long running hit for Kaleido Stage!" said Mia "And maybe bring in an investor!" added Anna, everyone began chatting excitedly at this until Layla passed by and said "You all are getting ahead of yourself, Anna you messed up on timing your entrance, Mia you're still tensing up your face, Sora you got sloppy and let yourself swing too fast if you keep doing that the spot ups can't light you. The show is not perfect by any means." the girls sighed at this, Layla stopped in her tracks and looked at them "However…I think it has…Some potential…" with that the stoic Hamilton walked away with the girls staring after her.

"I…I think that was…" Sora began to say only to have Anna finish for her "A compliment!" "She complimented us?" wondered Mia, Jennifer soon showed up at the girls side and watched her best friend leave "I can tell by the way Layla talks that she loves the show including me." Mia smiled at this and tears came to her eyes "Layla Hamilton and Jennifer Harrington think my show is good? That means to me more than anything than a good review!" "This is going to be a huge blockbuster!" exclaimed Marion, Ken nodded "That maybe right but first we've gotta make this show as good as it can be!" "Hayaah! Let's get down to business!" cried Sarah who punched the air, Sora did the same thing and exclaimed "That's right!" the others followed suit and Sarah said "We're going to save Kaleido Stage!" "Yeah!" cried everyone, Jennifer couldn't help but feel happy and began laughing at how silly the company was acting right now.

The next morning Sora, Anna and Mia were surprised but happy to find that a lot of the former Kaleido stage performers had come back and were now practicing in the practice room of the training facility. Happy to see that Mia show had worked and brought everyone back to the stage, the girls then followed Ken to Karlos' office who had called a meeting with them. Though currently inside Karlos' office Layla, Karlos, Jennifer and the Freedom performers were there waiting in silence for Sora and the others to arrive. Soon they heard a knock on the door and knowing who it was Karlos said "Come in…" the girls then burst into the room exclaiming "Congratulations you guys!" noticing how they were all acting Sora wondered "What's this?" then she, Anna, Mia and Ken spotted Yuri sitting at Karlos' desk smirking at them "Hi." "Yuri…" said Ken "What are you doing here?" questioned Sora "Karlos…Why don't you explain it to them?" the Kaleido Stage owner just sat there in silence and Yuri sighed a bit "Very well then…I guess you have to hear it from me…It's quite simple really…Karlos is no longer the owner of Kaleido Stage." everyone gasp in shock, not believing that this is happening at all. "Should you choose to stay you'll work for me. The current production will be dismantled after this evening's performance." told Yuri "You're going to cancel…Our show?" Mia said in disbelief "No way…" whispered Anna "It's all true…" said Karlos "But it can't be! There's two more weeks of performances!" said Sora "And all of the shows are sold out!" added Mia "We can turn this place around!" said Anna, Sora nodded "She's right! If you'll just extend Mia's show we can make all the money you need!" Yuri began laughing at this and went over to the boss' side "Oh Karlos…Don't tell this show is what you're banking on?" the devious performer then went over to Sora's group "An extension…Of Ms. Guillem's little amateur hour? How ridiculous!" angered by this Anna went to punch Yuri "You apologize for that!" he simply dodge her attack and a bodyguard stepped up, grabbing Anna's wrist and twisted her arm behind her back. "The show has already been cancelled and the tickets refunded." told Yuri "Get your hands off of me!" growled Anna, Jennifer quickly went to her aid and kicked the guard off of Anna. Unfortunately another came up and pushed Jennifer hard making her slam into the wall. She cried out in pain and slid to the ground, Yuri automatically went to her side "Jennifer are you all right?" before he could touch her, the Harrington slapped his hand away "Don't touch me!" Layla pushed Yuri out of the way and gently helped her friend up "Jennifer!"

The devious Killian then looked back at Karlos and the others "The Kenneth Corporation and the Hamilton Foundation withdrew their funding, your reign at Kaleido Stage is over it's mine now…Layla your father specifically ask me to not offer you a contract but if you wish I'll be happy to persuade him…Believe me I know how dedicated all of you are for this company you'll always have a place at Kaleido Stage no matter what will you join us?" "No thank you!" said Mia "I'd rather not!" barked Anna "I'm declining too!" said Sora "Well…That's just too bad then I'll have to ask you three to vacate your rooms at the dormitory…Show yourselves to the door." Yuri turned back to Jennifer who was leaning against Layla holding her shoulder in pain "Jennifer…Please…Join my company…" she gave him a harsh glare "You disgust me you know that? My answer is no, just accept that Yuri!" and with that the Harrington stormed out of the room with Layla following after her.

2 hours passed with Layla and Jennifer arriving at Layla's father company building. There they entered the place and made their way to his office while making their way there Layla looked at her best friend "How's your shoulder?" "It's fine...Only hurts a bit…" "You sure?" "Yes…" Later in Layla's father office he confirmed what Yuri told them "That's correct…I turn my rights over to Yuri and I think you and Jennifer should quit too." said Mr. Hamilton "But why?" asked Layla "There's a time for everything sweetheart. Kaleido Stage just needed to be put out of its misery just thinking of you and Jennifer still working for Karlos made my blood run cold." "But Mr. Hamilton we were doing so well! We lost most of our cast but we still had a hit!" said Jennifer "Now Jennifer…Layla…The both of you've already been more than enough for them. If you two are worried about your career I'll set up a management office just for the two of you. It's about time you two left that circus business behind anyway now the both of you can do what you want to. Layla why don't you star in another movie? I understand that last one you were in got some pretty good reviews and Jennifer that modeling gig produce some excellent photos which everyone admired so what do you two say?" "I just don't think you understand…How much Kaleido Stage means for me, Jennifer and everyone else who has worked to be there." said Layla, Mr. Hamilton sighed at this "So…This is what it's all about well I guess I was foolish for thinking I could stop you for working for Yuri, Layla." "No that's not what I want!" "Layla…It's starting to sound like you don't know what you want." "It's just that…I don't want to lose…I've never…Not once in all these years had a partner except for Jennifer that motivate me this much…" Layla then realized something "My partner!" "If you girls don't want to work for Yuri, you'll have to forget about the circus." "I don't know if we can Mr. Hamilton." said Jennifer "Well at any rate the Kaleido Stage you girls want is closing tonight. There's nothing I can do about it." Layla stood up from the couch she was sitting on "We understand…Let's go Jennifer." the Harrington got up too and began leaving the room with her best friend having Mr. Hamilton call after them "Layla, Jennifer!"

Later that day Sora and the rest of the company were in the dressing room feeling depressed that this is their last show at the stage. "I can't believe it…" said Mia "We've got to put everything we've got into it." told Sora, slowly tears came into her eyes "Oh…I'm afraid that I'll start crying during the performance…" "I know how you feel…It's just so sad…" soon the others began crying and continued to until Ken and Jennifer entered the room. Marion and Jonathan happen to notice their presence and looked at them. The Harrington looked at Ken and nodded, the stage manager then turned his attention to the others and yelled "Quit it!" they immediately stopped their crying and looked towards Jennifer and Ken in surprise. "Listen…If you're going to cry on the show it's best that you don't go on at all! Look…This is your last chance to do a show you really care about so do it well!" told Jennifer, Sora wiped away her tears and looked at the others "We can't go on…With looking how we feel right now! Jennifer is right! We've got to make this show the best one! Really pouring everything we got into it, because it's going to be the real Kaleido Stage's last show! I mean we want the audience to walk out of here remembering the good stuff about Kaleido Stage!" "Sora is right! Let's kick some butt!" exclaimed Anna "We've got too much to do to be sad!" said Mia, Sora then turned to Jennifer and Ken "Thanks you a lot you two for snapping us out of that." "I'm just here to help Sora." said Ken "The Boss must feel worse than we do…I wonder what he's going to do now that his dream…His Kaleido Stage is going to be taken away forever…Hey I know! I'll tell him how we feel about doing this last show!" "I'll go with you Sora." said Jennifer and the two left the dressing room, making their way to Karlos' office.

There outside the doors Sora knocked upon them "Boss…It's Sora and Jennifer." "Come in." she opened it and entered the room with Jennifer following. "Boss…Everybody was talking backstage a little while ago about how sad we are to close this show. I'd like you to know that even though this is our last show or really because this is our last show we're going to give it everything we've got. Is there anything you want me to say to the cast before we go onstage?" said Sora "I guess there is one thing you can tell them…If that's how they think of the show it's better not to go on at all." "But…What do you mean by that? We just wanted to do our best because this is our last show we will perform at Kaleido Stage…Are you saying that's wrong? That we shouldn't try to make the audience happy? That we shouldn't try our best?" "I guess Kaleido Stage is going to be over because it should be…" "What are you saying? We're trying to do our best here Boss! We're just…" "I'm disappointed in you Sora." "I just…Don't understand…What else can we do?" and Sora ran out of the office while Jennifer stayed, she looked back at the door Sora left through and looked back at her soon to be former boss "Karlos…" "Leave Jennifer…We're finished here…" "Fine…If that's what you want…"

Outside of the stage Sora was leaning against the wall staring up at the sky in thought, going over what Karlos said to her "I don't get it…What else does the Boss want me to do?" soon Ken walked out of the building and spotted the Japanese girl, he then went over to the Japanese performer "Sora!" she looked at the stage manager "Yes?" "What are you doing out here? I've been looking all over for you." "Sorry…" the Japanese girl then told Ken what had happened in Karlos' office which surprise him "Wow…I can't believe he said that to you…" "What should I do it's our last show and…Now I feel like maybe he's right…Maybe we shouldn't go onstage at all…" "Come on Sora, Karlos was upset but that shouldn't stop you from doing a job you know you all be proud of." "Yeah…" "If you don't pull yourself together the whole show is going to fall apart Sora!" "Sorry Ken…I need to go back to my room for a second." "Ok…Just be back in time for curtain all right?"

An hour later the sun was setting and Sora was walking back from the dormitory after trying to find Fool but left once realizing she couldn't see him anymore. "First…I can't stay at Kaleido Stage…Then the Boss says he's disappointed in me…And now I can't see the Fool anymore…It feels like everything is slipping away from me and I can't get it back…I don't know what to do…So much has happened to me since I came to Kaleido Stage…But even though someone got angry with me or when I made some kind of mistake I never felt this bad about it…I know…The reason I can't see the Fool anymore is that I'll never have the chance to perfect the Legendary Great Maneuver but nothing has changed inside of me…I still want to be good as Layla and Jennifer are, I just don't know how to make that happen…Today's performance maybe the last time I star opposite of Layla and Jennifer…Mia, Anna and I have always pushed each other to be better but now it's like we've wasted our time…And I was hoping that someday we could perform another routine together…But I guess…Now that Kaleido Stage is ending that will be impossible…I thought…I thought the best way to deal with this is just give Freedom all we've got…But the Boss said that if I feel that way…It's better not to perform…But I have to perform! No matter how I feel the show must go on! That's right!" thought Sora who then confidently made her way to the stage building for her last performance Though as she reached the front entrance, the Japanese performer stopped "But…When I think of today being our last performance I…" Sora ceased her talking once hearing two engines roar in the distance and began creeping closer. The Japanese girl quickly hid behind a pillar and watched as someone pulled up on a motorcycle followed by a red sports car.

That person turned out to be Jennifer who stopped her bike and pulled off her helmet, and the red sports car happened to be Yuri's which Layla stepped out from once it parked. "Thank you…We won't be seeing each other again…" told Layla who stepped around the car and stood by Jennifer, Yuri rolled down his window and looked at the women "Not necessarily…I can still talk to your Father if you like Layla…I know you don't want this to be your last performance at Kaleido Stage including you Jennifer." the Harrington glared at him "Today isn't going to be our last show Yuri." "Jennifer…Look around you it's over." "Did you even see our production before you shut it down?" questioned Layla "Our production? I never heard you talk like that before Layla…Anyway I figured the show wasn't worth wasting my time on." "Then we'll tell you the story…It's about a group of young people who believe in the future. All the characters, every one of them want to make a better life for themselves and that's why they're fighting…The character Layla and I play has that kind of hope too. They really believe that they can make a better future for themselves and their friends…That's what holds the group together, if a problem arises they do their best to solve it together. They don't despair they keep working…" told Jennifer "I think…I think that's what Jennifer and I like about the show…You maybe able to close Kaleido Stage down but don't think that means Jennifer and I will never be able to perform again. This isn't our last show unless we choose for it to be…I know that's true Yuri…If I didn't believe that…I don't think I had to the heart to go onstage today." said Layla, Yuri scoffed and looked away "I never thought that you or Jennifer would buy into that sentimental tripe." "You call it that because you don't believe the future has anything good in store for you." told Jennifer, Yuri looked at her a bit in shock but in turn he rolled up his window and drove away.

Once Yuri was gone, Jennifer began getting off her bike and Sora took this time to approach her and Layla "Jennifer, Layla!" the women looked at the performer a bit surprised to see her "Sora!" "I heard what you two said to Yuri just now…You really think today isn't the end, now I do too! I was afraid I'd never get to be onstage with the two of you again but like you said that won't happen unless I want it to! You two were right, you were!" "Sora we have a show to do and we don't want to be late for the performance." told Layla "Right!" as the Hamilton entered the building Jennifer went over and patted Sora on the head "Come on girlie let's get ready." "Ok!" 20 minutes later in the dressing room, currently Sora and the others were already in costume and were simply doing makeup and hair. "We're not doing our best because this is the last show, we'll continue doing our best even after today! We do our best because we have hope for the future!" told Sora, Mia nodded "Right!" "The audience isn't interested in seeing us being sad out there." "That's the truth!" agreed Anna "I think that's what the Boss was trying to tell me earlier today." said Sora and the other company members agreed at this. "And you know I've been thinking…Layla and Jennifer are really amazing! Oh just thinking about how Layla and Jennifer told Yuri that this isn't their last show unless they want it to be…It makes me so emotional I feel like crying!" said Sora who began crying a bit at this, in turn her makeup got ruined. "Oh no my makeup! Go on I'll catch up with you!" exclaimed Sora, Anna and Mia including the others who were already done began making their way out of the room. Though as Anna and Mia came out of the dressing room they were surprise to find Jennifer and Layla standing there in costume. Noticing how Sora wasn't with them Layla asked "Where's Sora?" "She uh…Messed up her makeup and uh…" said Mia having Anna finish for her "She's in there fixing it." once hearing that Layla entered the dressing room with Jennifer following and approached the Japanese performer. "Sora." called Layla, the Japanese girl looked at her and Jennifer in surprise "Oh Layla, Jennifer! I-I'm trying to hurry but I just…I don't know how…" the stoic Hamilton sat in front of Sora "I can help you with that, let me fix it for you ok?" and with that Layla began fixing Sora's makeup while Jennifer watched, smiling at this. "But Layla…I can do-" started Sora only to have Jennifer cut her off "Stop talking Sora, Layla will be finished in a minute." "Umm…Ok…" "Sora…Believe me when I'm saying this that Layla and I have enjoyed performing with you and we wanted to let you know, right Layla?" the Hamilton nodded "Yes that's right." Sora looked at the best friends in surprise and thought "But Jennifer…Layla…Why would you say something like that? This isn't the end…It can't be…Or is it?" Layla then put down the makeup brush and stood up "There finished…Sora let's go." "Right!"

While Jennifer and Layla made their way to the door, Sora stood up and began leaving too when she felt something. She turned around and were surprise but relieved to find Fool standing there on the table "Fool, you!" "Here I am…So you can see me again." "Yeah…Thought I got rid of you." Fool chuckled at this before holding up a card "The Sun…This card means you should have hope for tomorrow." "Hope for tomorrow…" Sora gave him a smile and a thumbs up "That's great!" the Japanese girl then ran towards the door where Jennifer and Layla were waiting for her, while making her way towards them Sora happily thought "After this…Is when our real performances are gonna start!"


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"I know…But you don't need to worry I'm gonna get an apartment with some of my friends and we've decided to make our own theater company…Well yes I know it'll be hard but we've gotta try. So I guess I won't be visiting you for a little while…Oh wow…That's really…I guess what I'm suppose to say is congratulations! That's great news Mom! Umm…I'm really happy for you…I what? I sound weird to you? No, no nothing is wrong…" said Sora who was talking on the phone with her mother and currently the Japanese performer had all of her stuff pack, ready to go. Once finishing Sora finished her conversation with her mother, she firmly shut her pink suitcase "All right! As of today I'm starting a new life!…A new life…I should be happy for them…Why am I being so selfish?" suddenly from out of nowhere Fool was floating right next to Sora's head wearing a flowing cape "No need to be so glum Sora, I'm coming with you after all." "You're gonna live with us?" "That's so sweet you thought you were going to lose me." Sora turned and gave the spirit a serious glare "If I catch you peeping at Mia or Anna I'm gonna give you to Jonathan you hear me?" "Uh…Right…"

Right outside the dormitory Anna and Mia were waiting with their things while Jennifer and Ken just stood there waiting also. Sora finally came out of the building with her stuff "Thanks for waiting!" "Come on you're late!" told Mia "Are you finally ready to go?" asked Ken, Sora nodded "Yes!" "Then let's get out of here." "Your family is great to take us in until we find a place." "They've been really looking forward to meeting you guys, especially…" Ken stopped once spotting Sarah coming out of the building "Sarah…" "You're all packed up and ready to go I see." the girls looked at the former diva of Kaleido Stage. "Where are you going?" asked Sora "Right now to training…See you later…" and with that the diva took her leave with the others staring after her. "To training?" wondered Ken "Like for her singing?" suggested Mia "Knowing her I think it's probably for martial arts." said Jennifer, Sora then turned to the Harrington "By the way Jennifer…What are you doing here? I thought Mr. Hamilton had set up another modeling gig for you?" "Yeah he did…But I'm not suppose to be there until much later so I'm gonna hang out with you girls for awhile." "Oh that sounds great!"

20 minutes later the girls and Ken were walking up a street hill making their way to Ken's house. "Seriously Ken your family is a life saver! My Grandmother would have made me come home if I didn't have a place to stay!" said Mia, Anna nodded in agreement "Yeah I was going to wait to tell my Mom about this but Yuri's buyout is already all over the news." "Well there is no way I was going to stand by and let the three of you be homeless." told Ken "Wow you sound so manly Ken!" said Mia in turn this made him blush in embarrassment "Stop making fun of me Mia!" "Ha, ha! Sorry!" Jennifer then noticed the look on Sora's face and called out to her "Sora is something bothering you?" this made the Japanese girl suddenly stop in turn made Jennifer, Mia, Anna and Ken stop to look at her. Sora waved her hands in front of her, shaking her head "No! I'm fine really!" "Sora!" Ken suddenly exclaimed, she looked at him confused "Huh?" "Your suitcase!" the Japanese girl quickly turned around to find her suitcase rolling down the hill and quickly chased after it "Hey!"

Soon the group was walking through a neighborhood and Ken looked back at the girls "Just one more thing before you guys meet my family there's something I need to tell you." "What is it?" asked Mia "Now I've already talked to her about it but my younger sister might…This is it!" the group soon stopped in front of a cozy home that happened to have a little playground in front. "Oh wow…This is like a little park!" said Jennifer "Yeah my Father built all of this by himself." told Ken "He built this? That's amazing!" exclaimed Mia, Ken nodded "Yeah I know…But my little sister…" suddenly a cute little girl came bursting out of the house holding a camera "Anna, Jennifer! I can't believe it's really you!" once stopping in front of the two performers, she handed each a rose "These are for you! Now pose with it! Come on pose!" Anna started to pose with that rose in hand but soon ended up doing something goofy just as the little girl took pictures. Ken sighed and pointed to the little girl "This is my little sister Lucy…She's Anna and Jennifer's biggest fan." Anna looked at him in disbelief "You're kidding right?" "Apparently not." said Jennifer then a older looking woman came running out of the house and towards the group "Ken! It's rude to keep our guests outside!" she soon began dragging Mia and Sora towards the house "Come inside girls!" Lucy began pushing Jennifer and Anna towards the house "This way you two!" "This is my Mom!" told Ken who then sighed once realizing he had been left to carry the girls' bags in. There inside the house Ken's mother guided the girls into the living room where Ken's father happened to be sleeping on the couch. "Ben wake up! Our guests are here!" told Ken's mother this immediately woke her husband up just in time for Sora, Anna and Mia to greet him "It's nice to meet you!" "Oh! Uh…Thank you." Jennifer then took out her cell phone once it start vibrating and read the text message she received "Change of plans…The photographer wants me there a bit early." "Really?" said Sora "Yeah…So I'm gonna leave now." "Oh…Ok…" "Hey…Are you ok Sora?" "Yeah I'm fine why?" "I don't know it seems like something is bothering you." "Oh it's nothing." "You sure?" "I'm sure." "Ok then…I'll see you guys later." "Bye Jennifer!" said the girls and Ken, the Harrington gave them a small smile before leaving the household.

That night at the Robbins' home while everyone was asleep Sora snuck outside and quietly sat on the bench gazing up at the starry sky. "Sora?" she looked behind her to find Ken standing there in his pajamas "Ken?" "Can't sleep huh?" "No…It's just so nice out here." "Sorry about my family being so noisy." "Oh no I think it's kind of nice…I mean how all of you can say exactly what's on your mind just like a real family…" "What are you trying to say Sora? That your parents don't feel like real family?" "Of course not! I didn't mean it the way it sounded." "Do you mind if I ask what you've been so worried about today?" "I'm not worried…Actually I just head some good news my Mother is going to have a baby!" "Oh…So you're going to be a sister you excited?" "Mmhm! They've always wanted kids, I used to wonder if they never had their own because of me…That they didn't want me to feel like an outsider…Silly huh?" "Sometimes it's not easy having a sibling. It was rough when Lucy was born, seemed like my parents spent so much time caring for her that they didn't noticed me anymore. I used to be bad on purpose just so my Mom and Dad would pay attention to me." "I'm too old to do something like that…I never even argued with them…I don't want to start now besides I'd be afraid to…Breaking our family bond…" "I don't think that's possible." "Yeah…" "Well don't be afraid about arguing with me…Maybe you and I could be the kind of family you want." "You're right Ken…We are kind of like family…Me, you, Anna, Mia and Jennifer! Because the five of us are going to make our very own Kaleido Stage! There's no time to sit around moping! First thing tomorrow morning Anna, Mia and I are going to find an apartment! Good night Ken!" and with that Sora went back into the house with Ken staring after her in disbelief "But that isn't what I meant at all…"

The next day Sora, Mia and Anna got early and headed into the city to find an apartment. They searched high and low for one and currently they were standing outside a nice looking apartment complex. "How about this? It's not as expensive and it's closer to town!" said Sora, the girls gazed at it for a bit and were about o make a decision when they heard someone say "No way!" they turned around to find Mr. Policeman standing right behind them. "Oh hi!" greeted Sora "What's wrong with living here?" asked Mia "Well…This building gets broken into every other day!" told Mr. Policeman, Anna sighed and looked at her friends "We're never going to find an apartment are we?" "Maybe I can help you." said Mr. Policeman, 15 minutes passed by and currently they were standing right outside a ugly looking apartment complex. "Well this is it!" announced Mr. Policeman "You're kidding!" said Sora "Oh come on! It's not as bad as it looks! It's in a great location, the rent is cheap and…" a redhead woman who was standing at the front doors to the building smiled at the girls "You have an excellent downstairs neighbor." "Dr. Kate!" exclaimed the girls who then followed the doctor and Mr. Policeman into the building where Kate showed them the apartment up for rent "This is it!" the girls looked at it, surprised by how nice it looked "Wow!" "So?" asked Kate "It's what we're looking for!" said Mia "Told you!" said Mr. Policeman "It's a lot cleaner than it looks from the outside." said Anna "And it's so big!" added Sora who then went over to the window and opened it. There in front of her eyes was the perfect view of Kaleido Stage from far away. Mia joined Sora's side, seeing what she was looking at "What a great view!" Anna joined up with her friends also looking out the window "Yeah it's perfect!" "You know I think I like living here!" admitted Mia, Sora nodded "Me too!" "Then it's settled!" declared Anna "From here we're going to start our own Kaleido Stage!" told Sora "And nothing can get in our way!" the girls exclaimed together, Kate smiled at them "And I live right downstairs so just let me know if you girls need anything at all ok?" "It's perfect isn't it?" asked Mr. Policeman, Kate then began making her way to the door "Now come on let's go to my place and I'll make you some coffee." Mr. Policeman looked at the doctor in disbelief "We're going to your apartment?" not wanting to deny Kate's offer, the girls and Mr. Policeman followed the doctor to her apartment which they find it to be very messy with paperwork and books scattered around. "Uh…You girls can move something if you want to sit on the chairs." told Kate who was setting up the coffee maker "She's totally hot but she lives in filth…" muttered Mr. Policeman, the girls who were picking up some of the paperwork on the floor looked at each other. "Maybe it isn't so perfect…" muttered Anna "We're going to have to come down here and clean this place if we don't want a bug infestation!" told Mia "But that's a small price to pay for such a great place!" whispered Sora, Kate then turned to Mr. Policeman and exclaimed "Jerry! What did you do with the coffee?" "What?" "Jerry?" wondered the girls, Sora looked at her friends "I didn't know his name was Jerry did you?" "It's cute!" told Mia "You know it suits him." admitted Anna, Jerry the policeman felt embarrassed and began blushing while playfully growling at the girls "Watch it! You better not be making fun of my name!"

Later that day the sun was beginning to set and the girls were heading back to the Robbins' house. On their way there they bumped into Jennifer on the streets, the Harrington smiled at the girls "Hey there!" "Jennifer!" "How you girls been?" "Good!" "Any luck finding an apartment today?" "Yeah! We did and it looks really nice!" said Sora "Well that's good to hear!" "By the way what are you doing out here Jennifer?" asked Mia "Well I was on my way to visit you girls at Ken's house but luckily for me I bumped into you girls, you're heading back to the house right?" the girls nodded "Yes!" "Well I'll go with you I've got nothing else to do." "All right!" and they made their way back to Ken's house. Just as they were walking up Ken's street the girls began chatting with each other "Looks like Lucy is going to be disappointed that we're moving out." said Mia "Maybe you should leave Anna there." said Jennifer, Anna looked at her in disbelief "Not funny Jennifer!" Sora began giggling at this, Mia then noticed something up ahead and said "Huh? Who's Ken talking to over there?" the girls stopped a few feet away and looked to find Ken talking to a man and a woman. He then noticed the girls and called out "Sora!" the couple looked too and the woman exclaimed "Sora!" the Japanese girl looked at them in surprise "It's my Mom and my Dad!" Anna, Mia and Jennifer looked at Sora in surprise before turning their gaze onto Sora's parents.

5 minutes later inside the Robbins home, Sora was having a chat with her parents in the living room while Anna, Mia and Jennifer stayed in the bedroom. "That was a really long trip for Mrs. Naegino to make…" said Anna "I wonder if they want to take Sora back home." said Jennifer "And right when we found an apartment!" said Mia, Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her back against the wall "I wonder how everything is going right now in the living room…" suddenly they heard Mrs. Robbins cry "Oh my goodness! Ken call an ambulance!" once hearing this Jennifer darted out of the bedroom and into the living room to find Sora's mother laying on the couch with her hand on her pregnant stomach in pain "Oh no…" "Mom!" cried Sora who was about to go over to her until Jennifer grabbed her shoulder "Sora don't!" "But Jennifer!" "You need to stay calm…Your mother is going to be fine all right?" "I…I…" Ken ran into the room "Sora the ambulance is here and the car is ready, you and Jennifer can ride with me Mom and Dad while the paramedics take your parents to the hospital!" "Ok!"

At the hospital Dr. Kate confronted Sora's father and informed him of his wife's condition. "A c-section? But she's only in her seventh month!" told Mr. Naegino "This is an emergency you have no choice Mr. Naegino." told Kate and with that she returned to the emergency room to perform the procedure. While that was being done Sora, her father, Jennifer, Ken and his parents were currently waiting in the waiting room. Ken's father began pacing around only to have his wife stop him "Ben please stop pacing! You're making me nervous!" "Uh…Right!" Sora who sat on the couch began trembling and had tears in her eyes, feeling horrible for what has happened "What have I done?" "Sora don't worry your mother is going to be all right." told Ken "I said such a terrible thing to her Ken and now she's…" "Sora this isn't your fault." told Mr. Naegino, Sora only bowed her head in shame "No! I've been so dumb! I just thought that when she had the baby…When she had the baby of her own, she won't need me anymore! So even though I know she was so excited about this I haven't…I haven't been really happy for her! I hated myself for feeling this way and I knew that if I went back to Japan she would see how selfish I am! So that's why I…I said those things! She was trying so hard to be a good mother to me and I pushed her away! And now…Now she might lose the baby because of me!" tears began falling down her face as Sora began to cry, Jennifer who was sitting next to the Japanese girl gently wrapped her arm around the girl and held Sora's hand with her other "Sora…A selfish person could never be worried about someone else…You don't want anything bad happen to your mother or the baby…That's what being a family is all about. Nothing you could say could ever destroy that, you'll be there for each other no matter what. Your mother and the baby are working hard in there let's cheer them on." Sora looked up at the Harrington with tears still in her eyes but slowly she nodded "Jennifer…You're right, thank you…" she then stood up from the couch and went over to the hospital window looking out and thought "Oh Mom…Please be all right…And the baby…Please, please let it be born safely…That's all I want…" and thus she began to pray along with Jennifer, Ken, his parents and Mr. Naegino.

That morning just as the sun was beginning to rise, Kate came out of the emergency room wearing scrubs and made her way over to the group. They all looked at her as she approached and stopped in front of them with a smile upon her face "They're both ok an it's a girl. Sora your mother is taking a rest right now, she had a long evening." Sora gratefully bowed to the doctor "Thank you for everything!" and soon Sora, her father and Jennifer went with Kate to see the baby in the viewing room. While looking at her baby sister from the other side of the glass, Sora said "She's so tiny…" "Well she was two months premature." told Kate, Sora started to become worried at this only to have Jennifer reassure her "She's all right Sora." Mr. Naegino who was also looking at the baby said to Sora "This is just like when you were born." "Huh?" "You were premature and had to be kept in an incubator too…I remember your mother and father were so worried about you, they blamed themselves too. They hated not being able to hold you, every time they come to visit you they told you to grow up strong and healthy. I remember it like it was yesterday…The two of them cheering you on…They couldn't wait to take you home…When you told me you wanted to join Kaleido Stage the first thing I thought was…What would her father say? And I guess I'll never know what he would have done…But I think they would have let you go just like we did and they would have just as worried about their little Sora even though their little Sora is all grown up and able to take care of herself…But I guess that's what mothers and fathers do don't they? They never stop worrying about their children…Just like Midori and I can't stop worrying about you huh?" "Thanks Dad…" "Sora…Why don't you go visit your mother now?" Sora stared at her father for a moment before turning to Jennifer, she gave the girl a smile and a thumbs up "Go on I have a feeling she wants to see you." "Ok…"

Minutes later after having a talk with her mother, Sora returned to the viewing room where she found Ken and his parents there with her father and Jennifer, looking at her baby sister. "She's lovely!" cooed Mrs. Robbins, Ken nodded "She really is! Congratulations Sora!" "Thanks!" Mr. Naegino then turned to Ken's father and bowed "We're so grateful for everything you've done." "Oh well…We really didn't do anything extraordinary." "You both should be very proud of your son." Ken blush at this and began acting all goofy "Proud of me? Oh wow!" "You have a cute baby sister on your hands Sora." told Jennifer, Sora smiled at this "Yeah I do…That's it! I thought up of a name for her! Yume! What do you think?" Mr. Naegino smiled at the sound of this "That's perfect." "That means dream right Dad?" asked Ken to Mr. Naegino who looked at him a bit confused "Did you just say Dad?" "Uh…I mean…" Jennifer began laughing at this along with Sora. She then stopped and turned to Jennifer "You know Jennifer…I can't wait to see Yume grow up!" "I bet you can't and who knows maybe she'll be just like you Sora." "You think so?" "Hey you'll never know!" Sora smiled at this and turned her gaze back on her baby sister, absolutely looking forward to the future in store for her sister.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Today at the beautiful Cape Mary, the girls were already settled in their new apartment and were currently chatting on a certain topic while practicing some small tricks in their living room. "It's amazing how time passes isn't it?" asked Mia, Anna nodded "I know! I can't believe 2 weeks have already passed since we've moved in!" "Two whole weeks! And in all that time we haven't done any work on our company or found day jobs! I know I told my Mom and Dad not to worry but now I don't know…Oh I wish we had a bigger place to practice in…" said Sora "I know!" agreed Mia and Anna "I just wish our dreams would hurry up and come true!" "Don't worry it'll come true Sora!" told Mia, the Fool couldn't help admire the writer who was currently balancing on a chair "Right…Like mine just did!" soon he was hit by a pillow that Sora happen to throw at him, Mia noticed this and asked "Are you all right Sora?" "Ha, ha, ha, ha! I was just thinking maybe we could stage a pillow fight on the tight rope! Uh…But seriously Mia, Anna please don't go flashing our underwear around here ok?" "We're all girls who cares?" said Anna, Mia nodded at this "Yeah!" "No Anna! What if there's a peeping Tom at the window? Or some lecherous spirit in here watching us?" questioned Sora, Fool who had gotten out from under the pillow threw a glare towards the Japanese girl "Hey…What did you just call me?" An hour later the girls were now at the window gazing towards Kaleido Stage to see some fireworks going off. Mia sighed at this "I almost forgot that Yuri's first show at Kaleido Stage was going to open today…" "What do you think? Should we go?" asked Sora "I still can't believe he sent us all invitations." told Anna, Mia nodded "That was strange…" "It's like…He's daring us to come…" "So…Should we?" Sora asked again

Later at Kaleido Stage the girls decided to go and see what Yuri's show was all about. While they sat in the audience and watched the show Mia muttered "He spent…A lot on this show…" Anna scoffed at the sight of this "I knew it…He just invited us to gloat." Sora who had remained quiet and watched the production thought "I performed opposite of Layla and Jennifer on that stage…We made shows where everyone pushed themselves to do their very best! But I guess that kind of Kaleido Stage doesn't exist anymore…" soon the show was over and everyone how is there began leaving the stage. Up on the second floor Sora, Mia and Anna were watching all the families and other people leave the lobby. Anna soon noticed her Japanese friend looking for someone "What's wrong Sora? Are you looking for someone down there?" "Oh! I was just wondering if Layla or Jennifer might have come here to see the show today too." "Yeah…They might…" said Mia "Yuri probably sent the two invitations too…" told Anna "But…I bet they're too busy to come…I read in a magazine that Layla is busy filming another movie while Jennifer is doing another modeling gig." informed Mia "Guess they won't do shows anymore…" said Anna "That can't be true! They're too good to stop performing…" said Sora "And how right you are." the girls looked to the side to find Jennifer standing a few feet away from them smiling. "Jennifer!" exclaimed Sora who ran over to the Harrington hugging her tightly. She giggled a bit and hugged the Japanese girl back "It's good to see you girls….I can't believe that two weeks pass by since we last saw each other." Sora broke the hug and nodded "I know! So did you see Yuri's show?" "Yeah…I did…" "What did you think of it?" asked Mia "To be honest I thought it was quite pathetic…I mean no performers actually performed out there…The machinery just did all the work…" "I'll say!" said Anna, Mia then looked down on the first floor and spotted someone making her growl a bit "Look…It's Yuri…" the rest of the girls look too to find Yuri making his way to the front doors only to stop and do some autographs for some fan girls of his. He then turned around and spotted the girls on the second floor, they noticed this and quickly duck down only to make Yuri smirk at their actions. With the girls they were still hiding from Yuri when Jennifer looked at Sora, Mia and Anna "Umm…Do you girls know why we're hiding down here?" "No…"

Later that day the four were having dinner at a little café and were currently sitting outside eating their meal. While Jennifer sipped her beverage Sora, Mia and Anna were looking through some magazines for some job openings. "How about we rent the Empire Stage for a few days? It's only $350 per show." suggested Sora "Then we've only got enough money for three shows." said Anna "We've got to find some place cheaper if we can't have a place for at least ten days there's almost no point in doing a show there!" told Mia making Sora sigh at this "You're right…" Jennifer stopped sipping her beverage and looked at the girls "You know I can help you girls out with the money situation, I don't mind at all." "No Jennifer you keep your money besides how will we pay you back if we do borrow from you?" said Sora "Yeah besides we've got to do things on our own from time to time but we really appreciate the help you always offer to us." said Mia "Well…If you girls insist…" said Jennifer, Anna who was still looking at her magazine suddenly "Hey!" "Did you find some place?" asked Mia "Wanted three acrobats to perform at the grand opening of a seafood restaurant…Applicants must audition…They pay pretty well too!" "That sounds perfect!" "But what do we do for the audition?" "We'll think of something!" said Mia and Sora, Jennifer smiled at this "Well then…Good luck to you girls I hope you get the job."

The next day Sora, Mia and Anna successfully obtained the job at the seafood restaurant. To their dismay it's what they had imagine it to be, instead of doing acrobatic maneuvers the girls simply stood outside the restaurant handing out balloons to people that pass by. What's worse is as the days progressed and during on sunny afternoon, Yuri stopped by the restaurant for lunch and was surprise to find the girls there right after Sora had ran into him in costume. He couldn't help but laugh at how the girls looked before proceeding into the building and in turn Sora, Mia and Anna were fired from their job just because of running into Yuri. Currently the girls were back at their apartment laying upon the living room floor, feeling upset at what happened today. "The last person I wanted to see when I'm dressed in a crab costume is Yuri!" groaned Mia "You don't know what real humiliation is until you've dressed like a shrimp!" retorted Anna, soon a knock was heard upon the door and the girls looked toward it "Yeah?"

Suddenly they heard creepy laughing coming from behind the door which started to freak the girls out. "W-Who's there?" Sora asked warily, the laughing continued just as the door slowly began to open. Anna and Mia began to shake a bit in fear, not knowing who's behind the door. Once it fully opened there stood Jennifer and Sarah who had her hair messy with some smudges on her cheeks. "I'm back!" Sarah happily declared, the girls gasp and exclaimed in happiness "Ms. Sarah and Jennifer!" both women stepped into the apartment and while Jennifer closed the door behind her, Sarah approached the girls "I had Jennifer take me to where you girls currently live now so here I am!" the former diva set down her knapsack and sat at the small dining table and took a good look at the apartment "This is a nice place." "Did you finish your training already?" asked Sora "Yup! And I can sumo wrestle with the best of them now!" the girls looked at her in disbelief "I thought the training was for your singing?" questioned Mia "Heavens no! Where's the fun in that? I think sumo is brilliant! You should all come with me sometime for a seminar!" "But Sarah…Shouldn't you be seeing how the Boss is doing?" asked Sora "What? Is something wrong with Karlos? You must tell me." said Sarah ,the girls began blushing a bit at this, Jennifer chuckled once seeing their faces and sat down next to Sarah "Oh the girls just figured that well…You know…" "You know…I haven't heard from Karlos for more than a fourth night." "What?" exclaimed the girls "I think he's taking some time alone to see what he wants to do with his life now." told Sarah "Why hasn't he talked to you? Aren't you worried about that?" wondered Sora "Worried?" questioned Sarah "That he's faithful." said Mia, both Sarah and Jennifer laughed at this. The former diva simply shook her head "Oh I don't have to worry that! After Sora's and Jennifer's little trick at Kaleido Stage I feel pretty secure that Karlos is still head over heels in love with me!" "And by the way I've found a job if you girls are interested." told Jennifer "Huh?" exclaimed the girls

The Harrington pulled out a flyer from her pocket and showed it to them "Good here it is…" "It says that they're looking for performers at…Marine Park?" said Sora while the girls gathered around the flyer to take a closer look, Jennifer stood up from her seat "I happen to find this while I was taking a stroll around town and I thought what have you girls got to lose? So Sarah and I talked to the owner of Marine Park and set everything up." "Really?" said the girls "But…We're only booked for one day…The day after tomorrow." "The day after tomorrow?" "Sorry girls it was the best Sarah and I could do. They usually have a band that plays on that stage but that day they're going to be off so we're going to be on." "Oh…" "And one more thing they're going to clear the set tomorrow night so we won't have a chance to rehearse onstage….Well?" "I can't wait to perform again!" exclaimed Sora who then looked at Anna "Well?" "Yeah! We should do it! It's not like we've got other offers." "And if they like the company maybe we can work for them in for a long term basis!" said Mia, Sora then turned to Jennifer "But wait…Aren't you busy with that modeling gig Jennifer?" "Don't worry about that they gave me a few days off so I'm able to perform with you girls." "Really? Oh I'm so glad to hear that! Thank you so much for this Jennifer, Sarah!" the diva smiled and giggled "I'm so glad this worked out for everyone!" "You should take a shower and a nap Sarah you must be exhausted." said Anna, the diva nodded in agreement "Good idea!" hearing this Sora dashed off in a blink of an eye placing the TV on top of Fool's hair before quickly returning to her spot "Take your time Sarah!"

While Sarah was in the shower Sora, Mia, Anna and Jennifer had gathered around the table for a little meeting. "So what should we do?" asked Sora "Well we don't have much time so we probably shouldn't try to do something with the story it'll be too elaborate." told Jennifer "Should we just work up a couple of routines then?" questioned Anna "Hey what do you think about calling up everyone who was in Freedom with us?" suggested Sora "That's a great idea! I'll send out a email to them right away!" said Mia "Layla too…" Jennifer, Mia and Anna looked at the Japanese girl once she mentioned this. She gave them a big smile "I think we should ask Layla if she wants to do it!" "I don't know that…If she be interested…" said Anna "Yeah…But if Sora wants to ask her we'll ask her." said Mia, Jennifer gave a simple shrug "All right…Let's go over to her house and see." Sora smiled once hearing the news and nodded before taking her leave from the apartment with the others following.

Later at the Hamilton mansion, the girls were currently sitting in the living room with Layla and the group had just informed her on what was going on. "So we thought we'd get everybody from Freedom together and create our own Kaleido Stage! And we'd like for you to be apart of it Layla!" told Sora, Layla crossed her arms over her chest and closed her eyes "I've got a screen test today and costume fitting tomorrow…Sorry to disappoint you but I'm too busy…I wouldn't even have time to rehearse…Besides my Father handles my schedule now, he feels I should do films." "Are you really happy with that? I mean you really seem to love performing." said Jennifer "I won't disobey my Father you know that Jennifer…He has my best interest at heart…" "But Layla…That doesn't mean you're going to perform again does it? I…I was hoping…I was hoping we get to star opposite each other again someday!" said the Japanese girl "Sora…" "Yes?" "Have you gained weight since I saw you last?" "Uh…" "You don't seem to understand how hard it is to get yourself back into shape if you let your training slide Sora." "I…I guess you're right…" Right outside the Hamilton mansion once the front gates closed behind them, the girls looked back on the household. "It looks like Layla isn't going to be joining us for our new show at the Marine Park…" said Mia "I hope she can be happy following her Father's orders…" said Anna, Sora nodded "Yeah…" while the girls began walking away, Jennifer stayed behind a bit still staring at the household. She soon spotted her best friend standing by the window gazing out and noticed the tiny look of sadness in her eyes and thought "Oh Layla…I hope you're making the right decision on this…" and with that Jennifer took a step back and began walking away from the household in order toe catch up with Sora, Mia and Anna.

Back at the apartment complex, the group had just entered the apartment to find Sarah in the living room watching TV. "We're back Sarah!" announced the group, the singer turned and smiled at them "You're back already? What did Layla say?" "She's too busy…Just like we thought she would be…" told Sora "Really…Well…What a pity but I'm sure we make do without her." Mia then went over to her computer to check her things and soon exclaimed "Oh! I got some responses to my email!" "Really?" asked Sora and Anna "Yeah! From Elena, Jean, Claire…Even from Emilio! And they're all coming!" "All right! We're going to give that park the greatest show they ever saw!" cheered Anna "I know! It's just too bad we'll be only performing it for one day!" said Sora, Mia soon gasp causing everyone to say "What's wrong?" "And Rosetta!" exclaimed Mia, Sora and Anna quickly ran over to look at the email. Jennifer casually strolled up and stood behind the girls to read the email out loud "Hmm…It's been a long time. I've read your email. I'll go there immediately. Rosetta…" "I sent her an invitation…But I never thought she'll be able to come." said Mia soon the girls started to her commotion right outside their apartment door. They happen to recognize that one of the voices belongs to Jerry the police officer "Well this is it! This is where they live!" a knock sounded upon the door and Sora said "Yes?" the door opened to reveal Ken, Jonathan, Marion and her father standing there with Jerry "Let's do a show!" "Hi you guys!" greeted Mia "All of you please come in and we'll tell what's happening!" said Sora, 10 minutes quickly passed and the group was informed on what's happening tomorrow. "So it's all ours! The day after tomorrow we'll be performing on the Marine Park stage! As you can tell we don't have a lot of time to prepare so if any of you have any suggestions or something you like to try I'd really appreciate it if you shared it with the group." "You know…I stopped by to look at the stage on the way here and…" started Marion's father "How's it look?" asked Jennifer "The ceiling is a lot lower than I thought it would be." "Well that rules out maneuvers on the trampoline." "And the stage is also in kind of a weird shape…It's really wide but it's not very deep at all." added Ken "So I guess that if everyone does end up coming it's impossible for everyone to be onstage together at the same time." said Anna "And Rosetta will be pretty limited with what she can do with her Diabolo." told Jennifer "It's not the best situation is it?" asked Marion "Why can't you just take the roof off the place?" suggested Jerry, Marion held up her hand at him "Please we're talking." "It's not an ideal venue but we have to make the best of it…I'm sure we can alter some of the routines to work there…"

The next day Jean, Claire, Elena and Emilio arrived at the apartment complex soon heading up to the roof to practice their routine. "Great! The jumps look great! Claire, Jean could you pick up the pace?" said Mia who sat off to the side with Ken watching the others practice. While they continued on Ken looked at Mia who was typing on her laptop "It feels good to be working again don't you think so?" "Yeah…But still…I went to measure the stage today and it's tiny…Jean told me it was small yesterday but I don't know how we're going to get half of the cast on…" 4 hours passed and the group was practicing non-stop. Soon they finally took a break and sat on the ground heavily panting, Sora looked at the others "I wish we could do something really big…" "I know! But if we did we'd fall off the stage!" told Mia "I know…" soon they heard the rev of an engine down below, Mia, Anna and Sora quickly got up on their feet heading over to the rail and look over. Down below they saw Jennifer getting off her motorcycle with Rosetta, the girls gasp and exclaimed "Rosetta!" the Diabolo star looked up and smiled at the three then looked at the Harrington "Come on Jennifer!" she ran inside the complex with Jennifer following, both making their way to the rooftop. There Rosetta came running out and headed towards the Japanese girl hugging her "Sora!" "It's been so long! I can't believe that you're here! We're glad you could make it on such short notice. We thought you would be too busy." "Not a chance! I'm never too busy for you Sora because I owe you too much! Besides I'd be honored to be a part of your new company." Jennifer casually strolled out onto the rooftop "Just to warn you Rosetta the stage is really small, so it's going to be tough." "That's ok Jennifer, the Diabolo battle doesn't take much space." she including Sora, Mia and Anna looked at Rosetta a bit surprise once hearing this. "The Diabolo battle? You mean like the one we did at Kaleido Stage?" asked Sora, Mia sighed a bit at this "That's going to be impossible…" "Oh…But I thought…" started Rosetta "Rosetta?" said Sora, the Diabolo girl simply gave her a smile "Well…I guess I have to come up with something else." "Thanks so much!" Mia then turned to the other performers and clapped her hands "Ok guys! Break time is over so let's get back to work!" everyone gave a big cheer before quickly getting back to their practice for their performance tomorrow.

The next following day the whole group made their way over to Marine Park with Sarah and Ken tagging along. Though as they came to the stage area, the manager of the park approached the group and told them some news concerning their performance. "What?" exclaimed everyone once finding out their show had been cancelled, Sarah took a step forward towards the manger "This must be some kind of mistake!" "D-Didn't someone call you? You're show has been cancelled for today." "Nobody told us about this!" said Jennifer "Can't you do something to cancel the cancellation?" asked Sarah "But no one struck the band set and it's too late to strike it now! That means we have no place for you to perform!" told the manager, the whole group then took a good look at the stage to see he was right. After a second pass Jennifer thought for a moment "I wonder…" she then turned to the manager "Did somebody put you up to this?" "I'm not at liberty to…I-I mean no…" Mia growled under her breath "This has Yuri written all over it." "Could be." said Anna "It looks like he's beaten us so we might as well go home." told Sarah, Sora who was still staring at the stage thought "But we can't be giving up this easily can we? I mean not when everyone came all this way…Even Rosetta came to perform…" Sora soon gasp once remembering what Jerry had suggested 2 days ago "That's it!" everyone looked at the Japanese girl in confusion who then told the group of her plan. "You're not serious are you?…Of course you are…" said Ken "The park is not going to pay us so none of you don't have to do this if you don't want to." told Sora, Mia and Anna nodded at this "Right…" "Don't be stupid! I came all this way and I'm not going o go home without performing!" told Rosetta "That goes for us too!" said Jean, Claire and Elena "Me too!" added Emilio, Sora then turned to the Harrington "What about you Jennifer?" "Sora there's no reason to ask me…Of course I'm going to perform!" "Awesome thank you all!"

Later once the park was open and soon filled with lots of visitors, the group made their way to the center of the park and got ready to perform. "All right then it's agreed! Everything in this amusement park is fair game to perform on today!" told Sora "All the customers are going to be our audience." said Anna "And our costumes are what we're wearing now!" added Mia "Then let's get this show started! Ready?" questioned Jennifer, the group of performers excitedly nodded "Yeah!" they soon got in places to perform, Ken who stood by Sarah just as everyone got ready asked her "Do you think that this is going to work?" "Ha, ha, ha! I guess we'll find out!" thus the group begun their performance doing flips, juggling, little trampoline tricks and for Rosetta, Diabolo maneuvers. While the group continued on performing with the guests excitedly watching, Marion and Jonathan arrived at the park to see the others. "Well they're not onstage…Hmm…" said Marion who then heard everyone clapping loudly and looked to find a huge crowd "Huh? What's going on?" with Jonathan upon her head Marion made her way over to the crowd soon finding Sarah and Ken "Sarah!" just as the singer and Ken turned and look at her, Marion and Jonathan spotted Sora in the air doing flips. "Oh…Hello Marion!" greeted Sarah "Uh…Do you mind telling me what's going on out here?" "They couldn't use the stage so they're performing out here." "We had a change in plans." told Ken, with the girls on top of a carousel Mia, Anna and Jennifer launched Sora into the air again. Just as she did a flip and was coming back down a white rose floated up right in front of her face "Huh? A rose?" she grabbed the flower and safely stood on top of her friends' arms. Just then from out of nowhere a whip came out and struck the rose making the rose petals scatter. Sora looked including Mia, Anna and Jennifer to find Dio standing their in the crowd with his whip in hand. "It's Dio!" exclaimed Jennifer "You mean the guy with the whip from Theatrical Camp?" asked Anna "Yeah! I asked Mia to send him an email too!" told Sora, Dio then jumped up and joined the girls on top of the carousel. "Thank you so much for showing up Dio!" said Sora "I had some free time so I figured I'd drop by." "You didn't tell me he was so good looking!" exclaimed Mia, Jennifer then approached Dio and gave him a hug "Good to see you Dio." "You also Jennifer." Sarah, Ken, Mario and Jonathan soon began making their way to the carousel. "It's a good thing we didn't have to use the stage then." said Sarah, Ken nodded "I agree!" "Oh…I wonder if…If the person who cancelled the show today was…" Sarah soon smiled once seeing the other performers join Mia, Anna, Sora, Dio and Jennifer on top of the carousel just as the audience began clapping loudly "It was Karlos…If they performed on that tiny little stage they would have never got this kind of response…This is just like him…"

"If only Layla could have been hear today…" thought Sora, Rosetta who spotted something in the distance tugged on the Japanese girl's sleeve "Hey Sora…" "Hmm?" Rosetta pointed at something "Who is that?" Sora including the group and the whole audience looked towards the rollercoaster to find a figure swinging in between the structure. The figure then landed on a platform only to free fall making everyone gasp, to their relief the rope with a hook the person had was freely let go and latched onto the metal structure. The figure then use this to safely land on top of a store building, everyone took a good look at the figure to see it was a masked woman wearing a blue cat suit. Everyone couldn't help but wonder just who was this masked woman, Sora who was staring at her a bit in shock thought "But who…Who could that be?"


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The huge crowd broke out into a loud round of applause for the masked woman who then took a bow and flipped back behind the store building, disappearing from everyone. "Amazing! She was only here a minute but the crowd is in the palm of her hand could she be?" thought Sora, Jennifer who was staring at the same spot where the masked woman once stood thought "That kind of control and grace…Only one person I know has that kind of thing…Looks like I figured out who's our masked performer…" Later the Marine Park owner had Sora, Mia, Anna and Sarah meet in his office to discuss about today. "Under those conditions I would like to make a contract with your theater company Freedom Lights." told the boss, Sarah turned to Sora, Anna and Mia "So? What do you say?" the girls just gave a huge cheer for their response "We can't wait to get started!" "I'm glad to have you aboard especially that masked performer of yours." said the boss, the girls froze at this "You mean…" started Sarah only to have the boss cut her off "Oh! She was just incredible! And I think our audiences will like to see more of her not just that one maneuver." "But sir…That performer…" Sora cut in on the conversation "I understand! We'll consider your suggestion!" "I'm counting on you!" and with that the girls left the office, Jennifer who was waiting right outside said "So how did it go?" "It went well but…Sora why didn't you tell him the masked performer wasn't apart of our company?" questioned Sarah "Yeah…How can we increase the Masked Star's role if we don't know who she is?" said Mia "Will one of us have to dress up like her?" wondered Anna "That won't be necessary because I know her identity! The Masked Star is Layla!" told Sora "Are you sure about that?" asked Sarah "Of course I am! Jennifer you think so too right?" before the Harrington could answer her cell phone began to ring and she answered it "Hello? Oh hi…Huh? You want me to come over right now?…All right, all right I'm on my way…See you then…" Jennifer hang up her phone and looked at the girls "Sorry I need to be somewhere right now…See you later!" and with that she ran off with Sora, Anna, Mia and Sarah staring after her.

Later at the Hamilton mansion, Jennifer entered the place to find Layla sitting there in the living room. "So…You made a big impression out there today Masked Star." said Jennifer "So you knew it was me from the very start?" "Of course I could easily tell it was you by the way you performed but enough about that…Why did you call me here? I thought you were filming a movie right now in another country?" "That's the thing…I need your help Jennifer." "With what?" "While I'm away filming I need you to play as the Masked Star for me." "You want me to play as the Masked Star?" "Yes…You and I practically have the same style of performing…But concerning the stunts I was doing out there today I know for a fact your stunts will be a bit wilder than mine." "You do have a point there…" "So…What do you say?" "All right I'll do it…You know this is a first that you're going behind your father's back like this." "What my Father won't know, won't hurt him Jennifer." "I suppose." "What about your modeling gig my Father has set up for you?" "Oh don't you worry about that, I've got it all covered."

The next day at Marine Park in one of the dressing rooms Mia forced Sora into a replica of the Masked Star's costume "There! So what do you think?" "It looks perfect! It was worth staying up all night just to finish it don't you think?" said Sarah "But it still doesn't look right…Sora is too short…" told Anna, Mia then pulled out a pair of boots "And that's why I bought these for her to wear!" "I can't perform in shoes like that! Hey I've got an idea! Let's try calling Layla again!" exclaimed Sora "It's no use she's out of the country." told Sarah "Even if she could come it'll take 10 hours to get here! And it's sad that Jennifer isn't able to come today because of a photo shoot then she would play as the Masked Star." said Mia "You've got to do it Sora." said Anna "Oh…Is it too late for the park owner to tell him the truth? That the Masked Star isn't a member of our troupe and we don't know who she is?" wondered Sora "If we do that he'll void our contract Sora." told Sarah, Sora sighed at this and at this time Rosetta arrived with a newspaper in hand "Good morning! Hey listen…Huh?" she stared at Sora in the Masked Star costume while Sarah, Mia and Anna greeted the girl "Good morning!" "Rosetta!" exclaimed Sora "Does anyone want to tell me what the Masked Star is doing here? And why she doesn't look like she did yesterday?" "Oh Rosetta! That's just because it's me!" Sora then took of her mask and Rosetta stared at her a bit surprised "But why are you?" "You saw right through my disguise! Didn't you? Now tell them I can't go on as the masked performer all right?" "You were going to pretend to be her?" "Well…" "Awesome! That's a great idea!" "What?" "Here look at today's newspaper!" Rosetta handed Sora it and she spotted one article concerning what happened yesterday "It's about our show!…I ended going to Marine Park with my wife and kids yesterday much to my surprise we were treated to a show that was good as if not better than anything I've seen in Las Vegas! The highlight of the show was the masked performer whose brief cameo was one of the most daring things I've ever seen…I highly recommend catching the show just for her make sure not to miss it!" "I bet this article means we're going to have a huge audience today…" said Mia, Sora began to laugh it off "Oh no Mia! I'm sure that won't happen!…Oh who am I kidding? Of course there's going to be a big crowd! Oh…What am I going to do?" then the door to the dressing room was opened once more, Sarah, Mia, Anna and Rosetta looked and were surprised to find the Masked Star standing right there in the door way. "No way!" said Anna "Sora look!" exclaimed Mia, the Japanese girl did and gasp "I don't believe it! The Masked Star?" "Well I'm actually a bit surprised that I can fit into Layla's spare costume…She better be glad that I'm doing this for her." thought the Masked Star which happened to be Jennifer in disguise.

There at the front gates leading into Marine Park, lots of guests were coming through with security maintaining the line. "So…All these people came just because of a newspaper article?" wondered Sora as she, Anna, Mia, Sarah and the Masked Star watched from behind a large bush. "Well…At least the Masked Star is here." said Anna "Oh good I found you!" the group turned around to find the owner of the park approaching them with a smile upon his face "This is the biggest crowd we've had at the park and it's all thanks to you!" Sarah, Anna, Mia and Sora began giggling a bit while thanking the owner who rudely said "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to the masked performer." "Well now…Isn't he one rude man…" thought Jennifer while staring at the owner. "We understand…She wanted to tell you that…Uh…She's so glad she can help! In fact that's what she's trying to say right now!" told Mia "Hmm…I can't put my finger on it but…She seems a tad different today…Oh I'm probably just being silly. Anyway I wanted to say that there's a camera crew here today so make it a good show." told the owner "There's a camera crew?" exclaimed Sora, Anna, Mia and Sarah, Jennifer simply gave a shrug and thought "Eh…No big deal…Well let's get this over with…" and with that she began casually walking away with the girls quickly following after.

20 minutes later and the Freedom Lights members began performing for the very big crowd of guests. Soon everyone was getting anxious to see the Masked Star that they begun chanting. "Looks like they're getting restless…They really itching to see the Masked Star." said Anna "I know…" agreed Mia "By the way…Where is the Masked Star?" wondered Sora, she began looking around including the other performers. Soon they heard Rosetta loudly gasp and looked at her "Rosetta what is it?" asked Sora, the Diabolo star pointed "Look Sora up there!" she and the others including all of the guests looked to find the Masked Star on top of the ferris wheel ride. "What's she doing all the way up there?" wondered Anna "It looks like she gonna fall from it." said Dio "What? But isn't that a bit dangerous?" cried Sora, while standing on top of the ferris wheel Jennifer looked down at the huge crowd and thought "Well here goes nothing…" with that she jumped from the ride and began free falling making everyone gasp at this. While free falling Jennifer began doing crazy maneuvers in the air before pulling out the hook rope and throwing it to latch onto the structure of the ferris wheel. "A-Amazing! Her performance is way better than yesterday's!" exclaimed Mia "Yeah it really is!" agreed Anna "But…What the owner said early was right…There's something a bit different about this Masked Star…" thought Sora

Later that day at the apartment complex Anna, Mia, Sora, Sarah and Ken had gather in the living room to discuss on what happened today. "You know…I've been thinking…" started Sora causing the others to look at her "Yeah?" "That the Masked Star today…Has got to be Jennifer in disguise." "Huh? What makes you think that?" asked Mia "By today's performance…The Masked Star was bolder and wilder in her maneuvers and something about her reminded me of Jennifer." "Is that what you've been thinking about all this time?" "I never realized you were so stubborn." admitted Anna "You can keep thinking that but it's impossible besides Jennifer was doing a photo shoot today remember?" said Ken "Then who else do you think it could be?" wondered Sora "We don't know Sora that's our problem." "Because both Layla and Jennifer said Yuri maybe able to close Kaleido Stage down but don't think that means they'll never be able to perform again…If they didn't believe that…Layla and Jennifer wouldn't have the heart to go onstage…I know that's how Layla and Jennifer really feel…And that day when we met with Layla it was like she was forcing herself to say those things…That she didn't really mean it at all…That's why I was so certain that Layla was the Masked Star yesterday…And maybe Jennifer…But I guess everyone is right…It's impossible…" thought Sora "Do you think the Masked Star will show up again for tomorrow's performance?" asked Mia "There's a 50/50 chance they may or may not show up tomorrow…Which leads us to no other choice…" said Sarah "No other choice in what?" wondered Sora "We'll have to make them cancel the show just incase the Masked Star doesn't show up." "How can we do that?" asked Ken "Do a rain dance!" answered Sarah and with that being said the group began performing a rain dance in the living room for the rest of the night.

The next day the sun was brightly shining high in the sky with no clouds in sight. Sora, Sarah, Mia and Anna stood outside the apartment complex and looked up at the sky before sighing in disappointment. "All that chanting for nothing…" said Sora "Well it didn't work but at least we can say we tried our best! Now we best get to the Marine Park!" told Sarah, the girls once again sighed at this "Right…" "And don't worry about how we're going to pay the forfeit! We can't pay it! We'll never have money for the rest of our lives! Once you've resigned yourselves for that fact that you'll be paying us off forever you'll feel much better!" "Somehow…I feel worse…" admitted the girls who then took their leave and made their way to Marine Park. Just as they left Kate had just arrived on her bike and stopped by Sarah's side "Good morning!" "Oh Kate good morning!" "Is there something matter with the girls today?" "Yes well…They're…They're just a little bit depressed right at the moment." "Oh…Hey Sarah…You don't happen to know what's going on with Yuri's Kaleido Stage? There haven't been any injuries down at the ER." "That's just how Yuri runs his show now…Nobody does any real tricks, it's all done by computers." "So that's why…And I suppose that's why neither Layla or Jennifer won't be in his company because they wouldn't have a chance to show off their skills." "That's it exactly." "And as a ER doctor it doesn't give me a chance to use my skills…"

Meanwhile at Marine Park while guests were walking around enjoying the rides and entertainment of the park. Sora and the others were in the dressing room getting ready for their upcoming performance. "We've got a half hour to get ready for the show." told Ken "Half an hour of financial freedom…" sighed Anna "And then we're slaves for life…" groaned Mia "Hey don't say that!" said Ken "Why not? Because the Masked Star isn't going to show up! And then we'll have to forfeit and then we'll have to pay this debt for the rest of our lives and then our children will have to pay it!" cried Sora then the door to the room was opened by Marion who had two little kids standing by her side "Sorry…But these kids wanted to see if they can get some autographs." "Uh sure…Oh wait! The Masked Star isn't here right now so you can't get her autograph." told Ken "That's all right! Because we came here to get that lady's autograph anyway!" said the little girl who pointed at Sora. The Japanese girl was surprised by this "You mean…" the little girl walked over and handed Sora a small bouquet of flowers "Here!" "They're beautiful!" "My brother and me really liked your show!" the little girl then turned to her brother "Tell her how much you liked it!" "We saw it the day before yesterday it was the coolest!" "So you came back to see it again?" asked Ken, the little girl nodded "Right! We had to but my brother didn't have enough money for his admission fee so he had to beg my Mom for early allowance. She made him promise to do chores like mowing the lawn, cleaning the toilets and being a dress dummy!" "Melissa you didn't have to tell them all that!" scolded the brother "And he helped pay for my ticket too so I told him I'll help him mow the lawn right?" said the little girl named Melissa, her brother lightly scoffed "No way! Whenever you tried to help me with my chores, it takes me about three times as long as it should to get them done!" "That's not true! I'm a good little helper even Mom says so!" Sora smiled at the two siblings and thought "If they work so hard to come back to see the show I can't let them down…" she then patted the siblings' head "Well I'm glad you came back we're going to do a way better show today than we had before! It's going to be worth all those extra chores!"

Later Sora had gathered the other group members into the dressing room to have a meeting just before their performance. "So you see we're going to lose our contract today anyway but we've got fans out there that are counting on us. We've got to make the show our best yet! We don't need the Masked Star to make this an incredible show!" told Sora "Either way we're going to have to pay the forfeit we might as well enjoy ourselves while we can." said Anna "Right!" Sora then turned to Mia "Mia how can we make the show better?" "You want me to come up with something 15 minutes before the show time…" Mia then pulled out her laptop from her bag "Sounds good I like a challenge." "While you're at it, the rest of us will be thinking of our routines…Is there anything we can do to make today's performance better than yesterday's?" "Hmm…." Anna looked at Mia "did you come up with something?" "Hold on…It takes 5 seconds for each of these to…There it's finished! Ken, Marion I'm gonna need your help!" "Doing what?" asked Marion "We'll take care of it!" told Ken, 15 minutes quickly passed and the group begun their performance using balloons that Ken and Marion aired up, the audience was amazed by the tricks and maneuvers that they did with the balloons and began clapping loudly for them. Soon Sora was on top of the roller coaster ride and began doing almost the same rope maneuver the Masked Star did two days ago. The Japanese girl then heard someone from the crowd below exclaim "Look it's the Masked Star!" Sora looked up at the top of the ride to find two Masked Stars standing there "Huh? There's two Masked Stars?" the two masked figures then fell from the ride and did tricks with their own rope which the whole crowd began cheering at. Sora stared at the two in determination and thought "I don't care what anyone says there's only two people in the world who can do things like that and they're…" something quickly caught Sora's eye and she looked to find Melissa and her brother trapped on a ladder on the side of a tower "Those kids are in trouble! That ladder is about to fall!" Sora then spotted the two Masked Stars began climbing up their rope and began doing the same. She then followed the two to a certain point of the roller coaster structure and watched as one of the Masked Star attached their hook to a part of the structure and swing towards the siblings.

Once the Masked Star had Melissa safely in her arms, she began heading back thus Sora quickly did the same thing. The ladder that Melissa's brother was hanging onto began falling apart. The two Masked Stars along with Ken, Mia and Anna who had just joined them with Melissa by their side watched as Sora saved the little boy and began heading back. Once seeing where they were heading for Mia exclaimed "They're going to crash!" with that said the Masked Stars went into the action and swing towards Sora just as she crashed into the structure and began spinning out of control. "Oh no! I've got to get control! Or else we both are gonna get hurt!" thought Sora but to her great relief both Masked Stars caught two and safely headed back to Ken, Mia and Anna. The whole crowd began to happily cheer once they saw the outcome. Seeing that the siblings were safe, the Masked Stars grabbed Sora's hands and motioned her to come along. The Japanese girl blushed a bit and nodded thus the three swing out and began twirling together in the air. Realizing at what just happened and the feeling she felt right now, Sora thought "I just knew that Layla and Jennifer are the Masked Star! They just had to be! No one besides these two could perform like this! The grace, the physical strength it's all part of their style even our sense of timing are the same! I'm so glad I'm performing with stars again!" once their whole performance was over, the two Masked Stars took their leave with Sora watching them. She smiled as she watched them leave and thought "The best part of this is…That Layla wants to be part of our company! With her and Jennifer on our side we can make better shows than we ever did at Kaleido Stage! It's…It's giving me the feeling that anything is possible! One day…Layla, Jennifer and I are going to star opposite each other again with no masks!"

2 hours later at Kaleido Stage some of the cast members were backstage watching the news of what had happened at Marine Park today. "Their show looks better than our show does!" declared Charlotte "I know…We've got way more computerized effects than they do but…Our show just looks like a boring version of theirs." told Julie, Charlotte then began to lazily stretch her arms "But they've got to work a lot harder than we do and we don't have to worry about getting hurt!" just as she tilted her head back, Charlotte froze in her place once seeing Yuri standing right behind her. She nervously laughed along with the other cast members before going off to do their own thing. Yuri watched on TV to see Sora performing with the two Masked Stars while listening to the news reporter "And the children were brought back to safety…Following their daring rescue Sora Naegino and the women only known as the Masked Stars resumed their performance…" Yuri frowned at this as he stared at the screen and said out loud "I know who you two are…Layla…Jennifer…


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Another fantastic performance was pulled off at Marine Park, while Freedom Lights was taking their bows along with the Masked Stars it then began to rain. "It looks like we can't perform again, the afternoon show is off!" told Mia who then ran off to get out of the rain along with the others. Sora looked back to where the Masked Stars stood only to find that they were already gone and quickly left to get out of the rain also. As everyone continued to get out of the rain, both Layla and Jennifer quickly changed out of their costumes and were hiding behind a stall wearing tan trench coats and hats. Once seeing that the coast was clear Jennifer grabbed her best friend's wrist "Come on!" and they quickly snuck out of the amusement park without being seen. With Sora and the others, they were invited by the Marine Park owner to join him for dinner at his place. "I'm so glad to have you kids on board! Thanks to your show my park has more visitors than ever! I just wanted to show you my appreciation so please I want you to eat as much as you like!" told the owner "All right!" cheered Anna who began stuffing her face with the delicious food out on the table. Sarah then leaned over to her and whispered "I never thought that he would be this generous of a person…I guess you can't judge a book by its cover eh?" Rosetta who happened to hear this said "This has nothing to do with generosity, if we're well fed we'll do better shows." "I always knew you were a sharp one Rosetta." told the owner "Yeah…Real sharp…" muttered Mia, the owner then looked around once noticing something "But…Why aren't the Masked Stars joining us for dinner today?" the girls froze at this but Sarah quickly said "I think they told me they uh…They had to go to a sickle and chain workshop." "A sickle and chain workshop?" Anna said in disbelief, the owner nodded "I see…Sorry they couldn't make it…Maybe next time…" while the others continue to eat their meal, Sora couldn't help but look out the window and look at the falling rain outside.

Later at the Hamilton mansion both Jennifer and Layla finished taking a shower and were currently resting in the living room from today's event. "Another outstanding performance don't you think?" asked Jennifer, Layla gave a nod of agreement "Yes…" soon Layla's maid came strolling in holding a two bouquet of flowers "You've received a bouquet Ms. Layla, you too Ms. Jennifer…I wonder if it's from your fans." Jennifer stared at the bouquet the maid handed to her and noticed a card attached to it. She plucked it from the flowers and opened it to read, only to immediately frown at what she read "It's from Yuri…" the Harrington then looked at her best friend "Did he same thing in your card too?" "If you mean are you enjoying playing hide and seek then yes." "Excuse me for butting into your conversation but…Ms. Layla you'll be late for your flight…And if you don't catch the six o' clock you'll never make it in time for filming tomorrow." "Yes…I almost forgot…" Layla then turned to her friend "Are you going to be all right getting home?" "Yeah I'm pretty sure now go on and get going before you miss your flight."

Meanwhile at Yuri's apartment, the devious Killian was laying in bed talking to Mr. Hamilton on the phone "I assume you received and reviewed the picture that I've sent you. There's no doubt that the Masked Stars are Layla and Jennifer." "My daughter is filming a movie in London, it can't be her. As for Jennifer she's modeling right now, what she does when she's not modeling I have no say in it, I'm simply letting Jennifer do her own thing for the time being." "How can you be so sure it's not your daughter?" "You know Yuri, I hear that Kaleido Stage's attendance is slipping and perhaps you're having trouble covering your bottom line. Even so it's pretty pathetic that you would stoop to this." "Well…Sooner or later you're going to find out the truth." with that said Yuri hung up and began concocting a plan to bring down Freedom Lights.

The next day it was still raining and currently Jennifer was in a little cozy café doing a photo shoot. She sat at a small table waiting while the photographer and his crew were setting up some equipment. Jennifer sighed and looked out the window to watching the pouring rain outside. The photographer then approached the Harrington "Sorry about making you wait like this Jennifer." "No it's quite all right Lorenzo, I'm just here watching the rain." "And before I forget." Lorenzo handed her a cell phone "You have a phone call." "Who is it?" "It's Layla Hamilton." once Jennifer took the phone from Lorenzo, he began walking away "We're almost done setting up things here so…" "I'll make it quick." the Harrington then put the phone to her ear "Well I wasn't expecting a call from you today." "We've got a problem Jennifer." she sighed and leaned back in her chair "Let me guess…Yuri?" "Yes…My father stopped by the set today and told me the news." "So what are we going to do about it?" "Not sure…" "Well…It's still raining over here so Freedom Lights won't be performing until the rain lets up." "That's good…But just in case…You think you can handle performing alone without me being there?" "I'm pretty sure but I'll have to see if I can. Currently I'm doing different photo shoots this week." "I see…That's understandable." "Jennifer!" she looked to see Lorenzo waving her over "We're ready!" "Coming!" Layla sighed a bit on the other line "I'll let you get back to your photo shoot…Just keep me posted on Freedom Lights." "Can do." Jennifer then heard a click on the other line and immediately knew that her best friend hanged up. The Harrington sighed once more and put the cell phone away before standing up and walking over to her photographer.

Meanwhile near Marine Park, Sora and the others were relaxing in a big hotel room due to the raining cancelling their performances. Sarah who was sitting in a chair reading a magazine, stopped what she was doing and look towards Sora who happened to be looking out the window "So…Is Dio off today too?" "I think he's got an afternoon performance at Theatrical Camp." "Right…When you've got a roof it doesn't matter if it rains or shines." Anna who was on the floor stretching her legs said "If the rain keeps coming down like this, maybe we'll end up having the whole week off!" "Well if it does keep raining, we'll have a company meeting so we can come up with some new show ideas." told Mia while laying upon the bed reading a magazine, Anna immediately stopped what she was doing and looked at her friend in surprise "You…You mean we have to work?" Sora then heard someone talking in the other room and walked over to find Rosetta talking on the phone "I understand…But we can talk about a more detailed schedule later." and with that the Diablo star hung up, Sora took this time to walk over to her friend "Rosetta…If you need to go back home to take care of your engagements we'll understand." "I know I can go back home, I'm here because I want to be here don't worry about me Sora I've got everything under control." "I'm glad you do."

Little did they know at the Marine Park owner's office building, he was currently meeting with Yuri to negotiate some sort of deal. "You want to buy 2,000 admission tickets to my park per day?" exclaimed the owner, Yuri nodded "Yes…I'd like to do a promotion of Kaleido Stage where we give tickets to Marine Park to our patrons in order to make this work, I'm going to need 2,000 tickets per day for the entire summer that means I'll need one hundred and eighty thousand tickets and I'd like to buy them now." Yuri handed the owner the paperwork which he looked over "That's a lot of tickets…" "Looks like it's going to be a rainy month for you." "As a owner whose business is affected by the weather I don't have to tell you this is a dream come true but…Correct me if I'm wrong aren't we Kaleido Stage's biggest rival? This sale doesn't come with provisions." "I'll buy under one condition only…That you'll cancel Freedom Lights performances and nullify their contract with the park." the owner stared at Yuri for a bit before laughing "Ha, ha, ha! But Freedom Lights is the biggest draw we ever had here! No one would even bother to come here if they weren't performing." "That's true even without the Masked Stars? Is it?" "Huh?" "They may not be back…Or haven't they told you that?"

The following day the rain had stopped and it was another beautiful sunny day at Marine Park. Sora and the others performed for the crowd as usually but this time the Masked Stars didn't show up. Due to this the owner found out and had Sora, Anna, Mia and Sarah meet him in his office and fired them right on the spot. "We're fired?" exclaimed Sora "You can't do that! We have a contract!" told Sarah "That contract is worthless! You lied to me! You knew I was more interested in those masked performers than you and now I found out that the two of them aren't even apart of your company! I'm so glad that nice Mr. Killian informed me of this." "Yuri informed you of this?" "You heard me! Now all of you get off of my property!" greatly upset by what just happened right now, the girls left the office without another word.

Later that day with Jennifer, she had just returned to her apartment after finishing up a photo shoot. Once entering her apartment she heard her telephone begin to ring, the Harrington hurried over and answered her phone "Hello?" "Haven't heard from you for a while." "Oh hey Sarah….Sorry I've been busy doing photo shoots." "Yeah I know…" "You don't sound happy right now…Is something wrong?" "Jennifer…Marine Park's owner fired Freedom Lights today." "He what?" "The reason why they got fired is because Yuri told the owner that the Masked Stars aren't apart of Freedom Lights." Jennifer's eyes widen a bit in surprise "He didn't…" "Jennifer?" "Look I need to do something right now Sarah. I'll call you back later ok?" "Oh…Ok…" the Harrington immediately hang up and began dialing another number. She put the phone to her ear and listened to the ringing on the other line until someone finally picked up "Yes?" "Layla we've got a problem." "What is it?" "Bad news…The Marin Park owner fired Freedom Lights due to Yuri." "I see…So what you're saying is the Marin Park owner cancelled their contract because of what Yuri said." "Most likely…I should have been there but I was held up at a photo shoot." "It's not your fault Jennifer…Still keep me posted and try to find out what they're planning to do now." "I can do that." "Talk to you later." "Ok." and they ended their telephone conversation there. Once putting her home phone down on the table Jennifer clenched her fist and hit the wall in frustration and glared at the floor while growling under her breath "Curse you Yuri!"

Two days passed and currently Jennifer was relaxing in her apartment, doing a bit of surfing on the internet with her laptop. She soon came to a web page titled Vancouver International Performance Festival and began looking at the groups that are participating. Jennifer immediately stopped what she was doing once seeing that Freedom Lights had entered the festival. A smile broke out onto her face as she saw this "I knew you guys wouldn't give up so easily." her smile soon faded once Jennifer found out who were the judges of that festival "Unbelievable…" the Harrington immediately grabbed her phone that was right by her side and dialed her best friend's number. It only ringed once and Layla quickly answered "Yes?" "I just found out right now that Freedom Lights was accepted into the Vancouver International Performance Festival." "That isn't the festival that my Father is going to be judging is it?" "Yes…And unfortunately Yuri is the special advisor…Layla I've got a bad feeling about this…" "You're not the only one…Look do you know when the Vancouver festival is?" "Yes it's this weekend." "I see…" "Layla?" "I'll talk to you later Jennifer." "Huh? Wait Layla!" she heard the line click on the other end and looked at her phone in confusion "What had gotten into Layla just now?"

2 more days passed and Jennifer was keeping an eye on the Vancouver festival website. Today she noticed that a new group was added to the festival and is currently researching on them. Just at that moment her phone began to ring and the Harrington immediately answered "Hello?" "Hey it's me." "Oh hey Layla…" "Sorry about our last conversation…I needed the time to think things over." "It's ok." "So is there anything I need to know about right now?" "Yes…There are new developments on the festival…Apparently a new performance group called Z was added to the roster." "They're called Z? I think I've heard of them…They're an amateur street performance group aren't they?" "Yes…I hear that they're pretty unusual because amateur teams aren't usually allowed to participate but what's getting to me is that their performance is similar to Freedom Lights…" "I see…" "I happen to call the festival a bit earlier and found out that new performers with routines can be added at anytime and they don't need to be announced." "Jennifer." "Yes?" "How quickly can you get to Vancouver?" "If I leave right now I can make it in time for the festival why?" "I want you to meet me there, I'm planning to board a flight back to the states right now." "Well then…I'll meet you there."

A day later in Vancouver at the building where the festival is being held at, Sora and others were backstage getting ready for their performance. To their surprise the group found out about the amateur group called Z. "Huh? What is this?" exclaimed Mia, the Freedom Lights group gathered around her as she began reading a paper containing what groups are performing in the festival "An acrobatic street performance team from Vancouver…And look at their production! This is exactly what ours is like!" "Don't tell me you want to back out?" the group looked to see Yuri standing there smirking at them and glared at the devious man. He simply shrugged at this "You probably shouldn't glare at me like that. I am pretty influential at this festival you know? Z is an extremely talented group of amateur performers. I t was my suggestion that they participate, I had to bend a few rules to make sure they were eligible. I gather you worry that they're too many similarities with your program…Well they're only amateurs and you are professionals right?"

Minutes passed and the festival started with groups performing to the best of their abilities and currently the amateur group Z was doing their performance right now. As Sora and the others were watching from backstage, they were greatly upset that this amateur group was copying their performance but making it more dynamic. Once they were finish performing the whole audience broke out in a loud applause. "The audience loves them!" exclaimed Mia "We can't let those guys beat us!" growled Anna, Sora looked on feeling so much worry and thought "What are we going to do?" suddenly the group heard footsteps approaching from behind and turn around to find the Masked Stars approaching them. Once they stopped in front of the group Sora stared at the two masked performers before smiling at them. Soon it was Freedom Lights turn and the girls went out there pulling off great routines, Yuri and Mr. Hamilton who were sitting off to the side watching the group were soon caught off guard by the appearance of the Masked Stars. "It can't be!" Yuri said in disbelief, then both Layla and Jennifer landed on the judges table right in front of Yuri. "How dare you! The both of you showing up here without any notice!" growled the Killian "We just wanted to thank you for the flowers Yuri." told Layla who swing away along with Jennifer, the two then headed for Sora and picked her up right on the spot. She looked at the two masked stars who nodded at her, getting the silent message Sora smiled and nodded "All right!" and right there the three began pulling off amazing moves and stunts to which the audience enjoyed very much. To their surprise and dismay Yuri appeared on a trapeze swing and jumped onto one of the masked stars' ropes. Sliding down the rope he pulled one of the masked stars to the ground. Yuri grabbed the mask and immediately pulled it off "Don't you get in my way!"

The Masked Star Yuri happen to unmask turned out to be Jennifer who he stared at in shock. Noticing the look on his face, the Harrington smirked at him "Fooled you, thought I was Layla huh?" "J-Jennifer!" "Jennifer!" she and Yuri looked to see the other Masked Star standing there only to pull off their mask to reveal Layla. Mr. Hamilton abruptly stood up from his seat and glared at his daughter "Layla!" she looked at her father before running off, Jennifer immediately pushed Yuri aside and ran after her best friend "Layla!" Sora and the others immediately followed after the women "Layla, Jennifer wait!" at backstage Layla stopped running once reaching a dressing room. Jennifer arrived to see her best friend standing there panting a bit "Layla…" soon Sora and the members of Freedom Lights showed up and gathered around the two best friends. "Layla, Jennifer!" the two immediately turned around to find Mr. Hamilton standing there, not looking happy at all "What are you two doing here?" he approached the girls who immediately looked away from him as he said "Layla why aren't you in London on the film set?" "I asked them to postpone my filming." "You had them do what? And Jennifer I heard that you were doing big photo shoots right now what happened to that?" "I finished up my last one and stopped doing them from there." "You did what?" Layla looked at her father "We know you can't possibly understand this but…Being here was more important to Jennifer and me!" "Why? I thought all this performing nonsense was over and done with Layla." "We're so sorry…But performing mean so much to me and Jennifer…And I didn't want to tell you that because I didn't want you to be disappointed and…" Jennifer grabbed her friend's shoulder making her stop "Layla and I know we should have told you the truth earlier Mr. Hamilton but…We just couldn't stand the thought of letting our friends down." "Besides I realized something Father…I won't be happy acting on film I want to be onstage! At least until…Until I can perform the perfect show, I won't be satisfied! I want to earn the kind of applause that makes my body tremble! And for the first time I have a partner that can make that happen!" said Layla who then looked at Sora, the Japanese girl smiled as she heard this "Oh Layla…" the Hamilton looked back at her father "I can't leave this behind Father…Not yet…" "Make sure you get back to London and finish up the film as soon as possible after that do what you want!" thus he began walking away only to stop as Layla called out to him "Father! Did you at least enjoy what I did out there?" there was a moment of silence before Mr. Hamilton took his leave. Once he left Sora looked at Layla "You've got to go after him, you can't leave things like that!" "No Sora…I've been running after him for too long." Jennifer smiled a bit as she heard this and patted her friends back "So…What do we do now?" suddenly right in front of Layla she noticed something starting to appear right next to Sora "What's this?" seeing where she was looking Sora was surprised and pointed at what the Hamilton was looking at "This?" right before Layla's eyes the Fool made his appearance to the Hamilton "Can you see me now Layla?"


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Confused at what Layla meant Jennifer looked to where her friend is looking and was also surprised to see the Fool "Well now…Haven't seen you for quite a long time…Fool was it?" Completely surprised by this Sora grabbed the two women's wrists and dragged them out of the room. The Japanese girl quickly ran down the hall, dragging the two top performers behind her, soon pulling them all behind a wooden wall. Sora then began looking around to make sure no one else is around to hear their conversation.

"Sora…What has gotten into you?" wondered Layla

"You both saw him! Both you and Jennifer are able to see the Fool now too!"

"Well…I did saw something…"

"That's right the Fool!"

At the mention of his name, the spirit made his appearance once more in front of Layla and Jennifer, bowing respectfully to them.

"He has a name?" asked Layla

"What Sora has neglected to mention to you, Layla is I'm the spirit of the stage." Told Fool

The Hamilton simply just stared at the spirit for quite some time, soon making the Fool sweat in nervousness.

Sora who was watching the whole ordeal thought "Amazing! I wasn't that calm when I saw him the first time."

After staring at Fool for long enough, Layla simply poked the spirit who wiggled at this "Oh baby that tickles!"

The Hamilton then took the seat on the floor along with Jennifer and Sora. The blond sighed a bit and brushed her hair back "Well…I'm glad that you and Jennifer can see too, then I'm not just losing my mind here."

Sora threw a light glare at the spirit who happened to be floating beside the girls "Believe me, if there's anybody that's insane here it's him."

"Hey!"

Ignoring the spirit of the stage, Sora focused her attention on her idols "But Layla, Jennifer does this mean the two of you couldn't see him till this day?"

"Layla has always been a capable performer in the past and for Jennifer, a while back she could see me but as time passed she could no longer. Though today Layla has proven to be more than that and now you're worthy of all my secrets. However Jennifer on the other hand has resumed her role as the stage's protector, seeing to that nothing comes harm to the stage or it's performers and doing what's best for it." Told Fool

"What kind of secrets?" wondered Layla

"The legendary great maneuver…No one has attempted it in years and the last person who did paid for the privilege with his life…But he was not the first to fall…Many have tried before him and many have failed…If you ladies tried this it will be the second team from Kaleido Stage to do so." Answered Fool

Realizing what the spirit said, Sora wondered "The second?"

The Fool nodded at this "Yes…It is very rare that I find two stars capable of it…"

"What happened to the other team from Kaleido Stage?" asked Layla

The spirit looked at her with a serious expression "They died…It turns out one of the partners couldn't see me at all…He just pretended to so I was tricked into revealing my secret."

"But Layla can really see you and Jennifer too! And I've seen you for ages! So that means you're going to tell us how to do it right?" said Sora

The Fool turned away from them "Not right now that would be a mistake…I'll reveal the maneuver to you when you're qualified to perform it."

"Qualified?" questioned Layla

"How can we prepare if we don't know what we're aiming for?" wondered Sora

"You're going to have to figure that out on your own…In the meantime I think I've said enough." Said Fool

Sora grabbed the spirit in her hand "Ugh! Don't be mean, come on tell us!"

"Sora if you were to try that maneuver now…"

The Fool then used his powers to reveal a fortune card to which he revealed the card to the girls.

"The death card…" muttered Jennifer

"Surely one of you would die…Maybe both…" told Fool

All three females remained silent at this for a few seconds, Sora tightly clenched her hand and looked to Layla "But I know I can do it with you, that we can do it together!"

Layla stared at the Japanese girl for a bit and Jennifer kept careful watch on the two especially on her best friend. The Hamilton then looked away from Sora "I'm going to have to think about this…"

And with that she got up along with Jennifer, the two then began to leave the area without another word. Sora quickly got up and yelled after them "Layla, Jennifer I promise to try my best! I promise…"

Seeing how the two didn't look back at her, Sora sadly said "They…Don't think I'm good enough…"

That night in Jennifer's apartment the performer was currently standing outside on her balcony, looking out towards the ocean waters. The pleasant warm air gently blew her hair as the Harrington continued to stare out before her.

She sighed a bit and thought "What Fool said earlier…About Layla and Sora performing the legendary great maneuver…Will they be able to do it? And what he said about me…Being the stage's protector…I haven't really done my job in the past since I've lost the ability to see Fool but now…Being able to see him again must mean that the things I've done had me assume my role again I suppose…"

The ringing of her cellphone brought Jennifer out of her thoughts to look at the device, recognizing the number on the screen she immediately answered it "Hello?"

"It's Layla…"

"Hey…"

"Couldn't sleep either?"

"No not really…"

"Neither could I."

Jennifer leaned her back against the balcony railing "I kind of figure you wouldn't, not after what Fool said to you and Sora…Have you given thought about it?"

"I've given a lot of thought about it."

"And?"

"I'm not ready to say yet…But there is one thing I want you to do for me."

"And what would that be?"

"Come with me tomorrow, to join Yuri for lunch."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"No I'm not."

"But why Layla?"

"You'll see."

The Harrington sighed and scratched the back of her head "Ugh…Oh all right I'll go, I better not regret it."

"You won't…Good night Jennifer."

"Yeah night."

And with that Jennifer hung up, she sighed once more before making her way inside to get some sleep for the upcoming day.

The next day in the afternoon both Jennifer and Layla were sitting in Cape Mary's finest restaurant waiting for Yuri's arrival. Jennifer looked at her watch "He's taking too long…"

"Jennifer we just got here and only been waiting for two minutes…Just be patient, I know you're annoyed to have lunch with him but please bear with it for me ok?" said Layla

The Harrington groaned a bit and crossed her arms over her chest "Fine…"

Another minute passed and Yuri finally showed up and took his seat at the table with the ladies "I'm glad to see you both made it, how did the rest of the filming go Layla?"

"It went very well thank you."

"And what about your photo shoot Jennifer?"

She looked the other way "It went fine."

"Good I'm glad to hear that."

"If that's why you asked Layla and me here then I'm leaving right this instant."

"No not at all…Jennifer…Layla…I want the both of you to come back…Kaleido Stage just isn't the same without you two there. I want us to perform together again."

"Jennifer and I already have a partner that we both want to perform with Yuri, it's Sora. Both Sora and I have been talking about attempting the legendary great maneuver." Told Layla

Yuri took off his sunglasses at this "That's crazy! You can't do that with Sora! She's a beginner for god sake, you can't do this!"

"I've decided."

Yuri lightly slammed his fist on the table "Well if you're going to do it then you should do it with me!"

Jennifer looked at Yuri and coolly said "You are not qualified Yuri."

"Jennifer, Layla is your best friend! Talk some sense into her!"

"And why would I do that? Besides I'm supporting Sora and Layla all the way and there's nothing you can do to change my mind."

Yuri clenched the table cloth very hard "I see…"

The male performer then stood up and put his sunglasses back on before storming out of the restaurant.

Later that day Jennifer and Layla had returned to their homes, currently in the Harrington's apartment Jennifer was watching a video of Kaleido Stage's Alice In Wonderland. She smiled a bit while watching the show and thought "I remember the first time Layla and I went to see this show together with our parents…That day I cherish the most and one that I wish I could relive again…Now knowing about the legendary great maneuver I wonder what Layla and Sora will do…"

Once again Jennifer was brought out of her thoughts by her cellphone ringing, she immediately answered without looking at the device "Hello? Oh Layla…Yeah…Sure I'll come get you but where are we going?...I see…Well then I'll see you in a few minutes." She then hung up and quickly made her way out of her apartment.

20 minutes later Layla and Jennifer were at a park where Sara happened to be practicing her karate with her teacher and fellow students. Currently the singer was taking a break when the two best friends approached her at this time.

"The legendary great maneuver?" wondered Sara

"I'm sure Karlos would know something about it. Or at least the people who attempted the maneuver before." Said Layla

"I see…But he might not want to discuss it, it's been years since he said anything about that routine."

"Even if Sora and I would want to give it a try?"

"Oh…I suppose he'll tell you everything he can. I'll give you his contact information."

Soon Sara was distracted by her master performing a move without her seeing it and while she begged her master to do it again Jennifer looked to Layla to find her deep in thought and couldn't help but think in concern "Layla…"

The following day in Jennifer's apartment, she was currently using her computer just surfing the web. Soon an article caught her eye and she began to read, her eyes soon widen in shock before glaring hard at the computer screen "That idiot, how dare he!"

The Harrington then grabbed her cellphone and quickly contacted for her best friend "Layla it's Jennifer…You're not going to believe this…"

Meanwhile with Sora, she too heard about the article on how Layla and her are coming back to Kaleido Stage to perform the legendary great maneuver and made her way to the stage. There she tried getting in by a security guard stopped her "Excuse me Miss but may I ask what are you doing here?"

"I heard about the news on the legendary great maneuver and how it's going to be performed here."

"Oh that…I'm sorry Miss but that show is already sold out."

"What sold out?"

Sora then tried again to get in but the guard stopped her from doing so "Hey you're not allowed in here!"

"But I'm one of the performers in that show!"

"Huh?"

At this time Yuri showed up and approached the two, greeting the Japanese girl "Good morning Sora."

"Yuri…"

"Well…Your little show sold out in minutes but if you want some seats for your friends and family I'm pretty sure we can arrange that."

"But how did you know that we were going to try this?"

The Killian scoffed at this "I heard it from Layla and Jennifer."

"Do you mean that Layla told you that she wanted to try the legendary great maneuver?"

"But Yuri made the news without consulting us!"

Both Sora and Yuri looked to find Layla and Jennifer standing there, both of these women glaring daggers at the Killian.

"So what…You're trying to humiliate Layla and Sora?" questioned Jennifer

"On the contrary I'm paying the two of you compliments, no one has been qualified to attempt this maneuver. I'm so lucky to have two performers who are qualified to attempt it but if you two are getting cold feet, we can cancel the show right now. It's too bad the tickets aren't refundable." Said Yuri

Jennifer started to storm over to him "Why you conniving snake!"

Though before she could do anything Layla quickly held her best friend back "Calm down Jennifer, don't let his words get to you!"

The Hamilton then looked at Yuri "And you! We are not cancelling the show! And I think we should make the stakes a little higher!"

"What do you mean?"

"If Sora and I successfully perform the maneuver, you will return Kaleido Stage back to Karlos."

"It's a deal, you've got exactly one month to perform this legendary great maneuver."

And with that Yuri took his leave while doing so, Sora made his way over to Layla and Jennifer "Layla, Jennifer…"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking…Sora I know we can do this. No matter what happens we've got to do that performance and we've got to win. We will walk on this stage again and it's not just going to be for one night." Said Layla

"But Layla…How can we prepare for this if we don't know what we'll be doing?"

"Karlos will the two of you what you need to do." Told Jennifer

"He's helping!" exclaimed Sora

"Layla and I think he's the only one who can. He told me he remembers from the last group of Kaleido Stage and is prepared for this. We can meet him at the Grand Canyon that is…If you want to Sora."

"Of course I do!"

Two days have passed and currently this day Sora, Layla, Jennifer, and Ken were on a plane heading towards the Grand Canyon. During the ride there Sora kept looking out the window before looking at Fool "So the Boss is going to tell us how to train for the legendary great maneuver…" "Just keep in mind if you found out what the trick is before you perform-" "I know, I know! I already saw the death card…"

Surprisingly Charlotte and Julie were on the plane too after being fired by Yuri two days ago and were currently sitting behind Sora. "Hey we came along to help you train!" told Charlotte "Aren't you a lucky girl?" said Julie "I guess so…" muttered Sora

Ken who was sitting next to the Japanese girl firmly said "Sora…I came along because I support your decision to do this…But if …If I ever think that you're in real danger I'm going to make you give up on this…I just wanted you to know before." "Ken…" "I don't want to risk losing you Sora…"

Jennifer who was sitting right in front of Ken, looked behind her "So…Are you finally attempting to tell Sora that-" Ken quickly covered her mouth "P-Please Jennifer not out loud!"

The plane soon landed at an airstrip an hour later, and one by one everyone began filing out. As they entered the hot weather a voice greeted them "It's been awhile, welcome." The group looked to find the old Kaleido Stage owner standing in front of them by his car.

"Hi Boss." Greeted Sora

"Let's get to work." Told Karlos

The group arrived at a cabin, 20 minutes later and began relaxing a bit in their temporary home. Well except for Sora and Layla who immediately began their training, currently the partners were doing one hand push-ups with their right arms. This went on for quite a bit until Karlos said "Next you'll do one hundred chin ups."

The girls began to do that at the side of a waterfall but as Layla was doing her set, Sora was struggling to do hers. As she began to rest for a bit Karlos said "No resting!" thus she began doing her set again.

Soon the training progressed to where Sora and Layla were standing at the edge of the canyon wearing only a rope on their left leg. Karlos, Ken and Jennifer were standing off to the side watching the two.

"Now jump!" told Karlos

Sora looked at him in shock while Layla jumped without any hesitation. While falling the Hamilton quickly dodged the rock formation protruding from the canyon, safely making it to the bottom. Seeing how easily Layla did it caused Sora to attempt the same thing, though luckily she managed to the dodge the formation but not as easily as Layla did.

The sun soon began setting at the horizon and currently the partners were resting after the long day of training. Jennifer and Ken walked over to the two, each handing them a towel.

"That's all for training today." Told Jennifer

"Not yet…Sora I want you to do a hundred curls with your right hand." Ordered Karlos who rolled a dumbbell over to her "You ready?"

She tiredly grabbed the weight "Yes…" and began doing her hundred curls.

That night at dinner while everyone sat at the table eating their dinner except for Karlos, Sora was having difficulty cutting her steak. Ken who watched her with worry said "I can cut that for you if you want." "Thanks Ken but I've got to get use to this." "Yeah…You're right…" and as Sora began eating her food, both Layla and Jennifer exchanged a look with each other before going back to their meal.

Later both Ken and Jennifer met Karlos outside the cabin and had currently discussed the legendary great maneuver. "What? But that's impossible! That maneuver can't be done!" said Ken

"He said that in order for it to be perfected, all someone would need is absolute confidence." Told Karlos

"Who said that?" wondered Jennifer

"It applied not only to the two of them but it applies to everyone around them…If you want Sora and Layla to succeed, you can never let them know that you have any doubts. You'll have to be relentless, you can never let them still on their training…Never…If you can't do that you better leave right now, if you stay…The two of you won't tell Sora or Layla about the maneuver."

Jennifer walked away at this making her way back into the cabin "You can count on me keeping my mouth shut, so don't worry."

Ken stared after the Harrington before reluctantly making his way back into the cabin also.

A week passed with Sora and Layla doing the same training over and over again. Today the girls had finished up training and were currently resting. Jennifer came over and handed Layla a towel and Ken handed Sora hers. As she wiped her face, the Japanese girl couldn't help but say "We've been doing the same sets for a week now…" "Don't complain! Just do what Karlos says!" told Ken, Sora looked at him in confusion "Ken…You sound like a different person…" "And so do you Sora…Weren't you the one who wanted to try the legendary great maneuver in the first place?" "I…Uh…Yes…"

Jennifer who had watched this, simply just looked away and handed Layla a bottle of water once again the two best friends exchanged looks.

"Layla you've completed the first level, you'll be training on the ropes first thing tomorrow morning." Told Karlos

The Hamilton stood up from her sitting position "Good."

Karlos then looked to the Japanese girl "Sora…Come here…" "Sir!"

Karlos, Sora and Ken left Layla and Jennifer alone as they went off to another area. While they were gone Layla turned to Jennifer "I've noticed you've been really quiet these past few days…I thought that today you would at least help Sora a bit with her training."

"Yeah…At most times I would gladly help Sora but since you and her are doing the legendary great maneuver I can't really interfere…Even though I am the stage's protector…I can't really protect you or Sora from this maneuver…The two of you need to do this on your own but you have my full support."

"Good to now."

"Well come on let's head back you've had a long day."

"And Sora?"

"I have a feeling she's going to have a longer one…"

"I see…"

And with that the two women made their way back to the cabin while Sora began a different kind of training to help her more with her arm strength.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

A few days pass with neither Sora nor Layla stopping their training, currently today Julie was chopping up some firewood in the front. Charlotte soon passed her carrying a basket of clothes "I'm going down to the river to do some laundry." Julie lifted up the axe she was holding and chopped more wood "Ok!" soon the girls heard something behind them and looked to find Mia and Anna getting out of a car.

Sora's two best friends were surprised to find the two former Kaleido Stage employees standing there. "Charlotte, Julie!" exclaimed Mia "You guys are here too?" asked Anna

Charlotte nodded "Uh…Yeah."

Julie who had the axe still raised over her head said "Haven't seen you two in a while…"

"How come you're not at Kaleido Stage?" wondered Mia

"Did you quit or something?" asked Anna

"Let's just say we had a little disagreement with Yuri." Told Charlotte

"And when he heard that he fired us." Finished Julie only to have Charlotte quickly shush her

"How's Sora?" asked Anna

"Working hard as usual?" said Mia

"Working hard is a huge understatement." Said Charlotte

"Yeah she looks awful!" said Julie

"Her training regiment is extremely severe."

"If I had to work that hard I'd die!"

"I just don't know how she can endure it! I've got a lot of respect for her."

Julie just nodded in agreement while Mia and Anna looked at each other in worry for their friend. "Just what has Sora gotten into this time?" muttered Mia

Currently inside the cabin Jennifer was in her room watching a talk show Yuri happened to be on. Sitting upon her bed, the Harrington had her arms crossed over her chest with a frown etched onto her face as she watched and listen to Yuri talk.

"Yes we're very excited about their attempt, so we've planned countdown events leading to the show. I want Layla and Sora to have a packed house." Said Yuri

"Well you're creating quite a buzz so you don't have to worry, but why make the decision to make the tickets nonrefundable even if they can't complete the legendary great maneuver?" questioned the talk show host

"Well as you know, a few months ago when Kaleido Stage changed hands we had to cancel a few performances of Freedom that created some financial strain. I don't mean to mind my predecessor but Kaleido Stage was in a state of disarray. From my perspective I think that it's only fair that people know what they're getting into when they're purchasing a ticket. Especially considering how difficult this trick is."

"And how have your ticket buyers reacted?"

"Not a single complaint."

"There is a rumor that your father was part of the last Kaleido Stage team to attempt the legendary great maneuver."

"That's right…And my Father never succeeded the maneuver…And he died during rehearsal."

"So this is an extremely dangerous stunt."

"Yes it's going to be very difficult and that's why we want to give Layla and Sora so much support."

"Best of luck to them, we'll be showing a live broadcast at their attempt of the legendary great maneuver next month."

Jennifer quickly turned the TV off and angrily glared at the floor "Yuri you monster…" her glare then turned to a sad gaze as tears filled her eyes "Why do you have to be the one taking my happiness away? Why couldn't it be someone else that I don't have feelings for?"

5 minutes later Jennifer had left her room and the cabin, making her way over to where Sora and Ken are, just to see how the training is going. Upon arrival she was a bit surprise to see Mia and Anna standing off to the side "I kind of figure you two would make your way here." The two girls turned around "Jennifer!"

Suddenly they heard Sora yell and looked to find her stopping the metal ball Ken swing at her, soon pushing it back. Though as she did, the Japanese girl collapsed right on the spot.

"Sora!" exclaimed the girls who quickly ran over to her

The Japanese tiredly looked up at her two best friends "Mia, Anna…I didn't know you were coming…How's Jonathan and everyone in Cape Mary?"

Jennifer knelt by Sora and gently helped her sit up, Mia and Anna also knelt in front of their friend.

"Don't make small talk with us!" scolded Anna

"What's going on here?" asked Mia

"This is my special training…" told Sora

"What? Special training?"

Anna lightly glared at Ken as he began making his way over to the girls "Ken how could you do this to Sora?"

He simply ignored her and looked at Sora "Come on you need to stand up…You've got to keep working if you want to catch up with Layla."

The Japanese girl slowly stood up at this "Yes…You're right…"

"But Sora!" said Mia

"This is foolish!" declared Anna

"I know and being foolish is my specialty…" muttered Sora only to have her collapse again

Jennifer quickly caught the girl "Sora!"

"Sora!" exclaimed Mia, Anna and Ken

"Ken you can't work her anymore today!" said Mia

"We're taking her to the lodge!" growled Anna

Ken quickly agreed to this "Ok!"

Jennifer then placed the unconscious Japanese girl upon her back and began carrying Sora away "Come on you guys." "All right!"

After placing Sora in her room with Mia and Anna watching over her, Jennifer made her way over to where Layla was currently training. The Hamilton was currently on the side of a little cliff, hanging onto some rope and while hanging onto it, the blond was pushing against the rock with her right arm swinging up high then back down again to repeat the process.

Jennifer sat down at the top of the cliff and looked down at her friend "You doing all right down there Layla?" "Yeah I'm fine!" "All right just checking." And as she continued to watch, Jennifer noticed some of the bruises upon Layla's body and thought "Along with Sora, Layla is also receiving bruises from her training…But I know the two of them are strong enough to endure every minute of it…"

The day progressed on into the late afternoon, Layla's training also progressed and currently the Hamilton had just climbed up from the side of the cliff. Jennifer immediately went over to her friend, handing her a bottle of water "Here…" "Thank you…You know I think I'm beginning to understand just what the legendary great maneuver entails." "You do?" "Yes…It would be incredible if I'd do it but as long as there's something separating between me and Sora…I know it will never work." "Layla…"

That night at dinner Mia and Anna watched Sora in worry as she was having difficulty cutting some of her food. Ken soon noticed Layla getting up and leaving the table "Layla? You can't be finished with your dinner already." "Yes…I'm afraid I don't have much of an appetite…Starting tomorrow I would like to eat my meals in my room."

"Uh…Sure…" answered Charlotte

Sora watched the Hamilton leave for upstairs, Jennifer did too but only glanced and returned back to eating her meal.

More days passed with Sora now doing the same training as Layla but was still a bit far behind. Today Ken, Jennifer, Mia and Anna were watching the girls were doing their pushes and swings on the side of the cliff. Not having the heart to witness the training Mia turned away "I can't watch anymore…"

"You want to go give Charlotte and Julie a hand?" suggested Anna

"Yeah…"

The day quickly progressed into the late afternoon with the sun setting. Sora and Layla had finished up their training for the day. Currently the two were sitting on the ground resting when Layla quickly stood up and began leaving until Sora stopped her "Wait Layla! Tell me what I'm doing wrong! Tell me to work harder, be stronger, how can I be a better partner…Or tell me I'm never going to be good enough to work with you! Just please say something! Please talk to me Layla! Please tell me what I've done that's so terrible!"

"Sora…" thought Layla who then replied "Sorry I have nothing to say."

And with that the Hamilton continued her way back to the lodge while Ken and Jennifer helped Sora up before making their way back also. Upon arriving at the lodge a black car pulled up at this time. From within the vehicle emerged Mr. Kenneth, a bit surprise to see the elderly man Jennifer muttered "Mr. Kenneth…What's he doing here?"

She then approached the elderly man with Ken and Sora following "I hope nothing is wrong to bring you all the way out here…" said Ken to Mr. Kenneth

The elderly man simply ignored him and looked at the Japanese girl "Your face looks like its aged thirty years in just ten days Sora. What's become of that competitive spirit? Your eyes are empty now, you don't look like someone capable of doing the legendary great maneuver."

"Sora is just exhausted because she's been training-" started Ken only to stop as Mr. Kenneth pointed his cane at him.

"Well it looks like all this is going to turn out just like they wanted."

"What are you talking about?" asked Jennifer

"All those maggots who still got their money in Kaleido Stage that's what! They don't believe that you can't do it and as a matter of fact they're hoping you fail Sora! Whether or not you perfect the maneuver or not they still get their money after all that's what they really care about."

"But that's!"

"Actually they'd be happier if the show was cancelled altogether, that way they don't have to worry about the show day expenses."

"But what about the audience?" asked Sora

"What about them? Can you even tell me what certainty you won't disappoint them? That you and Layla will succeed at this thing? Can you look me in the eye and say I'm not going to fail?" questioned Mr. Kenneth

"I…"

"Can you even say you deserve to be her partner? To the great Layla Hamilton?"

"I…"

Sora then ran into the lodge crying with Jennifer and Ken watching in shock "Sora!"

Ken turned back to Mr. Kenneth "I don't know what your angle but saying something like that to her, but she's having a tough enough time trying to keep up her spirits without you trying to knock her down!"

Mr. Kenneth simply walked pass the young man "It's nice out here I think I'll stay awhile."

Jennifer watched the elderly man for a bit and soon made her way into the lodge, going upstairs. There she stood outside Sora's room that she was sharing with her friends and listened to the Japanese girl talk to her two best friends "Why couldn't I say it? Why couldn't I just tell him I can do this? That I have it in me! I guess…I let it go to my head being partners with Layla now I'm finding I just don't…I just don't have what it takes to be onstage with her after all…And when Mr. Kenneth said that…All I could think to do was run away! And Jennifer was there to witness it! But I couldn't answer him! Not only am I not good enough to be Layla's partner I've also disappointed Jennifer!"

The Harrington looked down at the floor, biting her bottom lip before opening the door "Mia, Anna…I want to speak to Sora alone."

The two girls looked at each other before slowly making their way to the door. Once they were out Jennifer stepped inside and closed the door behind her, then went over to Sora who was kneeling by her bed burying her face in the sheets. Jennifer sat down on the bed, gazing down at the Japanese girl "I heard what you said to Mia and Anna…"

The Harrington began petting Sora's head "Sora…You don't need to beat yourself up for that but…If you want to quit none of us would think less of you…I'm pretty sure Layla would understand you'd explain it to her…"

"Jennifer…You and I both know she wouldn't, you weren't there to hear what she said to me…That doubting myself is a waste of time…Either I do this or don't try…But it might be the best thing for Layla if I let her choose a more talented partner like you Jennifer…"

"Oh Sora…"

The door soon opened to reveal Mia and Anna standing there "Sora there's something you need to know about the legendary great maneuver…" said Anna

It take too long for the two to inform Sora and Jennifer about the last team who attempted the maneuver.

"What?" said Sora

"That's right…Arlon Brass was the last to attempt that maneuver if his name sounds familiar it's because he was the top star at Kaleido Stage at the time…He was also Yuri's father…" told Mia

"And Jean confirmed what Mia heard and so it was true." Said Anna

"Yuri must have told his investors what happened last time, so naturally they don't believe the legendary great maneuver can be done. You see Sora this has nothing to do with you." Said Mia

"I see…" muttered the Japanese girl

"He only made that bet because he didn't think you nor Layla will be able to do the legendary great maneuver and win Kaleido Stage back from him." Told Jennifer

All Sora could do was bury her face more in the bed sheets making her friends watch her in worry.

That night while everyone was asleep Jennifer had put on her sweatpants, sweatshirt and tennis shoes before quietly making her way downstairs and outside. There Layla was waiting dressed in a grey hoodie and pants and as the Harrington approached her, she said "You know Jennifer…You don't have to do this with me…It's my training anyway…"

"I know…But you don't have to do this alone…I just don't like seeing you do this to yourself…"

"I'm surprised you haven't stopped me from doing this in the beginning."

"Well when I found out what you were doing I wanted to at first but…I know how much performing this maneuver meant so much to you that I couldn't even though what you're doing is really dangerous."

"Thank you Jennifer…You truly are my best friend…Come on let's get to work."

Thus the two began their long run through the canyon area, they soon returned to the lodge two hours later but as they stop to take a break Layla got down on the ground and began doing push ups "You take a rest Jennifer…I'm just gonna do a few pushups." "But…"

"Layla, Jennifer!"

Layla stopped her pushups and looked with Jennifer to find Sora running out of the lodge and over to them "Sora!"

The Japanese girl dropped to her knees in front of the Hamilton and hugged her tightly while crying "I'm so sorry! I wanted to run away because training was so hard! I told myself that I didn't have what it takes to be your partner anyway! But I'm not going to doubt myself anymore and I'm gonna work extra hard to catch up with you so we can perfect the maneuver and get Kaleido Stage back! I won't doubt myself again I'll work twice as hard and be the partner you deserve, the partner you're trying to be for me! No matter what it takes, I won't let you down we're going to do the legendary great maneuver!"

Layla smiled at this and gently push Sora away from her to look the girl in the eye "I never doubted for a moment that you and me were able to do this thing."

"Huh?...Right! But I don't want you to lose any more weight for this all right? I'll eat more, I'll gain weight and I'll get stronger! Also I think it's better we don't keep secrets from each other."

"I agree."

"Then it's settled!"

Suddenly the Fool made his appearance in front of the partners "Not yet…You're still not qualified to know about the legendary great maneuver."

He showed them a fortune card "The inverted empress, it seems that fate has even more ordeals in store for the two of you. If you two overcome this adversity there's no way that you can fail that your success may come at the greatest price of all…Only time will tell…"

The next day while Layla and Sora were training once again at the side of the canyon Layla suddenly hit the rock wall with her right shoulder. Sora immediately stopped and looked at her while Jennifer and Ken watched from above.

"What happened?" exclaimed Sora

"Layla did you hurt yourself?" asked Jennifer

"It's nothing I'm fine!" assured Layla

"I thought I just saw you hit your shoulder." Said Sora

"I just wasn't concentrating and scratched it a bit…It's all right…"

"I still think you should get it checked out just incase…"

"We don't have time for that Sora, come on let's get back to work."

Thus they went back to their training but as the girls went back to work, Jennifer couldn't help but look on in worry and thought "Somehow…I have a bad feeling about this…"


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

It was nighttime at the lodge and the group sat at their table ready to eat their dinner Charlotte had prepared for them. "All right let's eat!" exclaimed Sora, she thus began stuffing her face with food that was laid before her in order for the girl to gain weight. Mia who was watching this muttered "You can really put it away…"

Through a mouthful of food Sora managed to say "I'm holding up my end of the bargain I've got to gain weight!"

"Well that won't help if you slow down!" told Anna, Ken came downstairs at this time and informed the girls "Layla is going to be eating in her room again." "Huh?"

"She's still trying to lose weight?" wondered Anna

Jennifer shook her head at this "No…Being alone will help with her concentration."

Sora ceased her eating and stood up from her seat "I'll take her food up to her." Jennifer stood up also "I'll go with you Sora."

Charlotte soon handed Sora a tray filled with food and thus she and Jennifer began their upstairs, towards Layla's room. They knocked on the door and entered, inside Sora set the tray on the table "Here you go Layla…You look like you're not feeling well today…Are you all right?"

"I'm just tired…"

"Really? I've got the perfect thing! It's called Ume Boshi it's so sour! But it gives you energy, I have some my mother sent and it's in my room. It's traditional Japanese medicine, stay right here I'll go get it for you!"

Though before she could leave the room, Layla quickly stopped the girl "No thank you Sora. It's kind of you to offer but I just need a good night sleep…"

"So you don't want it?"

"Not right now but I appreciate the offer."

"If you change your mind, you're welcome to it anytime sweet dreams!" and with that Sora left just leaving Jennifer and Layla alone in the room.

The Harrington closed the door behind her and sat at the table with her friend "All right spill it, what's really wrong with you?" "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You can't fool me Layla, I know you like you know me now I won't leave this room until you tell me."

Layla simply sighed and began eating her food, but just as she lifted a spoonful of soup the blond cringed in pain and dropped her silverware. Jennifer abruptly stood up from her seat "Layla!" the Hamilton gripped her right shoulder "A-Ah…" Jennifer went over to her friend's side "I had a feeling that it was your shoulder, why didn't you tell me it was bothering you?"

Before she couldn't touch it, Layla lightly slapped Jennifer's hand away "I'm fine…If I just get some rest it'll be better tomorrow…It's got to be…" "Layla…"

The next morning Karlos, Jennifer, Layla, Mia, Anna, Charlotte and Julie had gathered at the side of the waterfall getting ready for the next practice Karlos had set up for Sora and Layla. Currently Layla was standing on a set ladder facing a trapeze swing, a few feet above the set were two sets of logs held up by wires.

"From your swing you'll jump out towards the log but you won't land on it. You'll push yourself off with one hand and return to your platform on your swing." Informed Karlos

Layla slowly reached out and tried to grab the swing only to cringe in pain and slowly put her right arm down. Luckily Mia, Anna, Charlotte and Julie didn't witness this but Karlos and Jennifer did. The two exchanged a look before looking away to find Sora and Ken running over to them.

"Sora! Glad you could join us." Said Karlos

"Sorry Boss I putting these weights on and I lost track of time! But the good news is I should weigh the same as Layla now!" told Sora

Mia who was looking at the weights strapped to Sora's waist asked "What are those?"

"Those are weights you use for scuba diving, Sora came up with the idea." Told Ken

Layla turned to her partner asking "Are you sure about this?"

"I can't let you bear the burden of these things all by yourself, I wouldn't be a very good partner if I did that now would I?"

"You're right…"

"Sora you've got a lot of work ahead of you and these weights are going to complicate things, you are nowhere near mastering this, but tomorrow we're going back to Kaleido Stage for rehearsal." Told Karlos

Both Sora and Layla firmly nodded "Right!"

Thus they began their final training for the maneuver but as they began, the two were not swinging at the same pace.

"You've got to be in sync!" told Karlos

While the partners tried to do so, Mia who was watching the training along with the others said "Sora is still going slow."

"It's got to be those weights." Muttered Anna

"Come on!" cheered Charlotte

"We know you can do it!" yelled Julie

As time progressed the two still weren't synced, Layla looked to Sora "I'll take care of the timing you just worry about getting up to the log!"

"Sounds good to me!"

Two minutes passed and soon they were completely synced together, Ken nodded and yelled "That's good! You're completely synchronized!"

From there the girls jumped from their swings and towards the logs, the two of them using their right arm to push against the large piece of wood but as they did, Karlos and Jennifer witness Layla cringe in pain and softly gasped at this.

Both she and Sora push off their logs to head back to their swings, Layla made it back to hers but unfortunately Sora missed hers by a few inches and fell to the net below. The Japanese girl looked to her partner "I'd like to try that again!" all the Hamilton did was nod and prepared once again.

At their second attempt Sora managed to make it to her swing this time but during the time they were pushing against the log, Layla cringed in pain once more and right arm gave out. In turn her shoulder smacked right into the log and she fell to the net below. Sora happened to saw her partner fell "Oh no Layla!"

She dropped from her swing to the net and once landing safely, Sora crawled over to Layla "Layla are you all right? You didn't hurt yourself did you?"

The Hamilton just grabbed her shoulder and calmly said "No…"

"I'm sorry this is my fault isn't it? Cause you had to match your timing with me!"

"This has nothing to do with that!" Layla let go of her shoulder and stood up "Come on let's get back to work we don't have any time to waste Sora!" "Ok…"

Later that day everyone had returned to the lodge and currently Jennifer was in her room packing up her things when Layla came storming in. The Harrington jumped a bit but quickly relaxed "Oh goodness! Don't surprise me like that Layla!"

The blond say nothing more but quickly closed the door, immediately sensing something wrong Jennifer went over to her best friend "Layla what's wrong?" suddenly the Hamilton collapsed right on the spot, having Jennifer quickly catch her in time "Layla!"

She gently sat her friend on the ground and wrapped an arm around her "It's your shoulder isn't it?" Layla slowly reached up and held her shoulder "Y-Yeah…" "Layla…I think it's time you get your shoulder checked out if it's bothering you this much." "That's not going to happen…I just need to hold out until all this is over…" "Oh Layla…"

"Promise me you won't tell Sora."

"I…"

"Promise me Jennifer!"

"I promise…"

The following day the group was riding in a plane making their way back to Kaleido Stage. As they were nearing the stage Sora looked out the window to find the city below them and thought "I can't believe we're already back at Kaleido Stage…Layla and I have worked really hard and we've both come a long way but still…I'm not sure if it's going to be enough…I'm starting to worry…What's going to happen if the Fool still thinks we're not qualified?"

Soon the plane landed in the water near Kaleido Stage and as the group made their way towards the building, the people who were once part of Kaleido Stage but joined Yuri's company came out to greet them. Sora was completely caught off guard by this "They…" "Thank you for the warm greeting." Told Layla

Jean stepped out from the group and smiled at them "Welcome home Layla, Sora…"

"Jean!" Layla said in surprise

"Everyone here realizes that…Kaleido Stage isn't what it could be or what it used to be anymore."

"But tomorrow's show…That's going to be the first real thing we've done since you've left and Yuri took over." Said a male performer

"That's why we're doing our best to get everyone excited about it!" said a female performer

"This is the kind of show we want to be a part of!" said another male performer

Sora happily smiled at this "You guys…"

"I didn't think you'd come…"

The former Kaleido Stage group parted in order for Yuri to approach Layla and the others. Who frowned at the sight of him.

Once standing in front of them Yuri said "Well? Has that so called spirit of the stage given you his stamp of approval?"

The group remained quiet at this and Yuri scoffed "I didn't think so…Sounds like you won't be able to do it after all. You might as well just admit it and fortunately there's still plenty of time to cancel just said the word and it's off."

"Your juvenile taunting isn't helping them." Told Karlos

Yuri growled under his breath before smirking "Right…It's you…The man who cares more about his wallet than his performers!"

Yuri then approached Layla and Jennifer "I'd expected the two of you to have more sense in this…Layla you can't perform the legendary great maneuver tomorrow…No one can, it's impossible!"

"That's enough Yuri" snapped Layla

"Do you want to kill yourself?"

"Yuri!"

"Karlos is just using you! How can you not see that? You can't do this!"

"Well then you shouldn't have announced the show! Layla and Sora are going on tomorrow and what's more they're going to succeed! Everyone else here is supporting them and wishing the girls the best of luck except you!" Jennifer said in a serious tone

"Karlos will get what he wants! He'll send Layla and Sora to their deaths as long as it helps the bottom line. He'll destroy anyone for money just like he did to my Father…Isn't that right Karlos?...Or maybe…You were just hoping to get this place back but either way Kaleido Stage is over…"

"What are you saying?" demanded Layla

"My remaining investors have decided to sell Kaleido Stage after tomorrow's show…It doesn't matter whether you can do the maneuver or not!" told Yuri who now began chuckling "Well I guess now you know how pointless it is! For you to try and insist on performing that stupid stunt!"

Layla stormed up to Yuri but Jennifer immediately pulled her best friend back and slapped the Killian hard in the face.

The force of the hit caused Yuri to fall on one knee, he held his cheek and looked at Jennifer in shock. She simply just glared down at him "Layla and I were proud to be your partner Yuri…So don't make us feel ashamed of you now! You need to pull yourself together."

Layla smiled a bit at this and patted her best friend's shoulder then looked at her partner "Sora!"

"Yes?"

"We're still going on tomorrow, we're going to do the legendary great maneuver tomorrow no matter what!"

"Right"

Soon Layla walked pass Yuri with Jennifer following "We'd never cancel the show."

Later that day much to Jennifer's worry, Layla asked her friend to take her to the hospital to see Kate about her shoulder. Currently they were sitting in Kate's office after she took an x-ray of Layla's shoulder "You go away for a month and come back broken…How could you let this go one for so long before coming in? The pain must be excruciating! What probably happened is that you pulled a muscle in Arizona and then you kept training with it and developed a stress fracture…It'll probably take some surgery to fix this."

"I can't do that…I've got a performance tomorrow." Told the Hamilton

"Layla are you insane? If you put any more stress on your right shoulder I may not be able to fix it!"

"I've got to go on!"

"Layla!"

"All I need for you to do for me is give me something to kill the pain and I'd appreciate it very much if you didn't mention this to anyone."

"You're not serious! Jennifer please tell me she's not serious!"

"Unfortunately she is Kate and if you were tell me to talk some sense into Layla I would have no luck, I know how stubborn my best friend can be." Told Jennifer

Suddenly Layla blacked out and began falling out of her chair, Jennifer quickly caught her friend just in time "Layla? Layla?"

10 minutes later Layla was currently sleeping in a hospital bed with Jennifer sitting by her side, as she watched in worry Kate left to make some phone calls.

"Oh Layla…You really got yourself in a mess this time…" muttered Jennifer

Kate soon came back and gently placed her hand on the Harrington's shoulder "Karlos and the others are on their way…I'm sorry but I had to Jennifer."

"No it's quite all right…I'm sure Layla will understand too…"

5 more minutes passed until Sora and the others arrived and dashed into the room. Kate immediately left Layla's side after checking up on her and pulled the curtains to hide the Hamilton and Jennifer from the others. Sora quickly approached the female doctor "How is she?"

"Well…Right now she's sleeping…Jennifer is with her right now…" told Kate

"Did Layla come because of her shoulder?"

"How did you know that?"

"I thought so…She did hurt herself…So she was hiding that from me…"

"But will she be all right Kate?" asked Sara

"Uh…Well…" said Kate

"We'll have to cancel the show tomorrow won't we?" concluded Sora

"It might be for the best if her condition doesn't improve…" told the doctor, having everyone gasp at this.

"I should have said something…I knew she hurt herself…But she said…We wouldn't keep secrets from each other…" said Sora

Yuri immediately became angered at this and grabbed Karlos by the collar "You! Did you want to kill Layla too? You stay away from Jennifer if you're going after her next!"

Sora quickly went over to Yuri and tried to make him let go of Karlos "Please Yuri he didn't know!"

The Killian growled and pushed her away, the force of the push caused Sora to fall to the floor. Ken, Mia, Anna and Sara quickly went to her side "Sora!"

"Stop this right now, this is a hospital!" snapped Kate

"If Sora saw that she was hurt, how could you not notice when you were her coach Karlos? You knew what was going on and you just kept pushing her!" yelled Yuri

"That's not true!" told Sora

"He would never do something like that!" exclaimed Sara

"You're right…I knew she was hurt…" admitted Karlos and everyone stared at the former boss in shock.

Jennifer emerged from the curtain and stood by Karlos' side "So did I…Both Karlos and I knew Layla was in a lot of pain, she couldn't have hidden that from neither me nor Karlos."

Sora got up and approached the two "Then why didn't you stop her?"

"Isn't it obvious? Karlos just wanted Kaleido Stage back no matter what it cost! And he probably brainwashed Jennifer which is why she didn't stop Layla!"

Suddenly Layla came out from behind the curtain, wearing a sling on her right arm "No…That's not true and you know it."

Jennifer looked at her friend, feeling relief to see her all right "Layla…"

"How do you feel?" asked Sora

"I'm sorry…But I felt I had to contact your friends." Told Kate

Layla walked over and joined Jennifer's side and looked at Yuri "I know…The reason why Karlos or Jennifer didn't say anything about my injury was because they knew this was something I had to decide for myself. Isn't that right you two?"

Karlos sighed before looking straight at Yuri "I should've had the same fate in Arlon all those years ago…After I saw him practice, I started to get an idea of exactly how dangerous the maneuver would be and of course…I was more than a little bit nervous that he would fail but Arlon was determined to perfect for Kaleido Stage. He said that by having the legendary great maneuver onstage would put us on the map. He was a shrewd business man and I trusted him but after their last rehearsal I got nervous and said I'll understand if you want to cancel. I put that seed of doubt in his head…I should have supported him to the end but I didn't…I won't do that again Sora and Layla will have to make up their own minds about this."

"Oh Karlos! You've finally broken free from the past!" exclaimed Sara

"How ridiculous! Your little story didn't fool me for a second Karlos! I'm the one in charge here and I'm cancelling!" said Yuri

"If you cancel that show I will never forgive you Yuri!" declared Jennifer

"Neither will I!" said Layla

Yuri looked at the two childhood friends "Jennifer…Layla you can't go out there in that condition you'll get yourself killed! Jennifer talk some sense into her!"

"Layla…I think that maybe we should cancel…" said Sora

Layla turned to the girl and questioned "What did you just say?"

"Just until you're completely healed, we can do the maneuver some other time. I mean when you're well enough."

"Some other time?"

"I.."

"When will that be? A month, ten years?"

"I don't-"

"When we're ready will Kaleido Stage even exist anymore? How do I even know that you're not going to be the one that's injured or that we'll both be still even around?"

"I…I can't answer that…"

"And what about the people who are already bought their tickets? As far as I'm concerned Sora this show has already started and I won't disappoint anyone by not showing up. After my Mother died I watched my Father give into his grief. I swore to myself I'd do whatever I could to keep my Father happy…And then I…He's disappointed in me…I don't want to disappoint anyone else, not even Jennifer."

Jennifer smiled at her friend and patted her on the back "You could never really disappoint me Layla."

"Layla is that worth risking your life? This is crazy!" said Yuri

"Yuri…How can you of all people not know why I need this? It's for the applause I get when I'm perfect."

"For the applause you get?"

"So that's why…She does it…" muttered Sora

"This is a test of my will and I'm going to pass it, I can do this! And when I do I'll get the applause I want. If I back out now I may never be sure of our success again I have to go through with this and that's why we can't cancel this performance, understand?"

"Of course! I know exactly how important this is to you Layla because doing the legendary great maneuver and hearing the audience applaud is also important to me too!"

Yuri stared at the two and began thinking back to what his father once said to him, Jennifer was surprise to see his look slowly turn into a sad one "Yuri…" the Killian simply turned away and walked off "Do what you want…"

Then Fool floated right down in front of Layla and Sora "So…The two of you aren't afraid of dying then are you?"

Layla confidently smiled at the spirit "Why fear it when it won't happen?"

Sora nodded in agreement "We'll perform it perfectly."

Fool nodded in approval at their statements and said "The time…Is now!"


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"You both were chosen by the stage and you have persevered through many hardships. You have finally earned the right to learn about the legendary great maneuver. You must only attempt this maneuver if you have unshakeable confidence, now I will tell you all I know." Informed Fool

Suddenly a light breeze came through the room which happened to baffle the others. "What's going on?" wondered Anna

"The spirit of the stage is here…He's instructing them." Told Jennifer

"You must be right…Anyone wishing to attempt the legendary great maneuver must have great confidence. Once they tell the spirit they have no fear of failure, no fear of death he begins to instruct them." Said Karlos

"Oh…But what would happen if they said they were afraid of dying?" asked Sara

"Then the spirit of the stage would have disappeared and we'd be forced to cancel unless they decided to perform anyway." Said Jennifer

Soon the light breeze disappeared from the room at the time Layla and Sora began to smile. "So that's the legendary great maneuver." Said Layla "It's amazing!" said Sora

"It's even better than I'd imagined!"

Sora looked at her partner "I think the best thing would be for you to rest your shoulder and for me to rehearse for it. That way both of us will be ready for tomorrow!"

"That's sounds perfect."

Layla then turned to Mia "Mia!"

"Yes?"

"I'd like to talk to you about the set we'll be on tomorrow…Could you pass these suggestions to the director?"

"Sure!"

Karlos smiled at the turn out "Everything is in motion…"

Later that day everyone at Kaleido Stage was hard at work, doing some finishing touches to the show and their routines. Currently Sora was practicing in the trapeze practice room, while working on the legendary great maneuver Marion, Jonathan and Jennifer were there watching her. As the Japanese girl jumped from the swing, pressing hard on the mat set up on the railing and back to the swing again, both Marion and Jonathan began clapping.

"Yay! That was wonderful!" cheered Marion

Sora looked down and smiled at them "Hi Marion, hi Jonathan, hi Jennifer!"

"Come see! Everybody has come back!"

"What?"

"She's right Sora…Everyone from Freedom is here, even the people who quit Kaleido Stage came back just to see this Sora!" told Jennifer

"R-Really?"

"Kaleido Stage is just the way it used to be!"

Sora's smile grew big and she began to giggle in happiness "We did it!"

Jennifer smiled a bit as she watch the Japanese girl swing back and forth happily giggling, she then turned to Marion and patted her head "I'm gonna head over to the hospital, I'll be back ok?"

"Ok Jennifer, take care!"

By the time the Harrington reached the hospital the sun was beginning to set, she walked into Kate's office to find the doctor at her desk and her best friend sitting in a hospital bed.

"Hey I'm back." announced Jennifer

"Hey there Jennifer." Greeted Kate

Jennifer took a seat right next to her best friend's bed "So…How's the pain in your shoulder?"

"Better…I should be able to perform tomorrow after all…You know it's funny…I'm usually nervous before opening a new production but…I haven't felt this calm in years, I can't wait to step onto that stage tomorrow."

"I figured you would say that."

"As your doctor I want to remind you again that performing with that shoulder is a terrible idea, but I know that you're going to do it anyway so I promise I'll do everything I can to get you through that show tomorrow." Told Kate

Layla smiled at the female doctor "Yeah that's great, thanks Kate."

The Hamilton then looked at her friend "And what about you Jennifer? Are you ready for the show tomorrow?"

Jennifer smiled and winked at her best friend while giving her a thumbs up "You know that I'm always ready for any show and I have absolute confidence that you and Sora will pull off this maneuver with no problems!"

An hour later Layla and Jennifer returned to Kaleido Stage after Kate had discharged the Hamilton from the hospital. Upon entering the building and the stage, the two women found the whole Kaleido Stage cast there waiting. Each and every member all had smiles upon their faces that cause Jennifer and Layla to smile too. Soon the director began explaining to the big group just how tomorrow is going to work.

"And then when we finish that routine, the rest of the cast is going to clear the stage then it's time to do the maneuver this'll be your set." Said the director

Everyone directed their gazes to the roof as it began to open up and all were amazed once setting eyes upon the set.

Right outside Kaleido Stage, Karlos was casually leaning against the walkway railing looking up at the sky. He soon took his gaze away from it to look at Yuri who had approached him at this time.

"Now I know how you must have felt when my Father went onstage for the last time…The performers chosen by the spirit have to attempt the legendary great maneuver…Nothing can keep them from it." Said Yuri

"No…" said Karlos

"I wanted to make Kaleido Stage a place where no performer was injured or killed every again…I never meant to destroy this place…Knowing how much this place means to everyone especially Jennifer…With all the things I've done I may have lost her already…"

"You haven't lost Kaleido Stage yet…Nor have you completely lost Jennifer; things could still look up for you."

"Huh?"

"You've actually did a pretty good job…You know…Before your father died I considered making him our business manager."

"Really? I guess he'd probably would have had the sense to let you keep Kaleido Stage. No one can spot a talent like you, Sora is a testament to that."

"I can't take credit for her, she dashed into this thing all by herself. Also don't give up on Jennifer, I know for a fact she's not the kind of person who holds a grudge besides I know it's not easy to let go of someone you have deep feelings for."

"So true…Thanks Karlos…"

The day of the performance finally came, as it was nearing the show time people who had brought the tickets to see the show, began making their way to Kaleido Stage. All the guests ranged from are all the people Sora had met during her time at Kaleido Stage and of course the loyal fans. At this time while people were filing into the building, a sleek black car pulled up and inside turned out to be Yuri and one of the businessmen that was selling the stage.

"You're pushy you know that?" questioned the businessman

"Say what you want about me but please keep an open mind." Said Yuri

The handsome performer quickly got out of the car and opened the door for the businessman, who reluctantly stepped out.

"Just watch the show tonight and tell me, if you still want to sell Kaleido Stage." Told Yuri

"Look kid it's already sold." Said the businessman

The two then heard chuckling and looked to find Mr. Kenneth stand a foot away from them. The businessman frowned at the sight of the elderly man "Mr. Kenneth…"

"Then maybe I should consider buying it back again." Said Mr. Kenneth

"By yourself? That's ridiculous, you take a bath on it!" scoffed the businessman

"A bit of advice, people who don't take chances won't reap the greatest rewards of this life, chump!"

And with that said the elderly man walked away, still chuckling while the businessman angrily huffed.

Inside the building, backstage Sora was already in her costume and is currently in Layla's dressing along with Jennifer. The Harrington was also in her costume and Kate happened to be in the room at the time, tending to Layla's shoulder.

"Just keep Layla's shoulder nice and still Sora." Instructed Kate

"Right! Once we do the legendary great maneuver I think the audiences will start coming back here."

Layla nodded in agreement "I think so too…"

"And when they come back, we'll have to have a new production for them. Something that kids and adults can enjoy just like the old days!"

Sora looked at Layla to find her smiling and then to Jennifer who also was smiling but when she looked away, the Japanese girl the look Jennifer and Layla exchanged with each other.

Minutes later the show started and the production was going great, the stage was once again filled the audience's applause and cheer. Jennifer soon came out in her beautiful and flowing light blue gown, the audience cheered as she began performing tricks on the trampoline. Her time was soon up and she ended the routine by throwing down a smoke bomb. Smoke filled the entire stage area and the trampoline set was immediately removed. Once the smoke cleared the roof of Kaleido Stage began to open up.

The night sky was soon revealed to the audience and two pillars began rising up high, with Sora and Layla on one of the two. The pillars rose up very high and soon stopped, the trapeze swings were then set for the girls. From backstage, all the cast members watched anxiously while Jennifer was looking up at her best friend and Sora, Yuri approached her at this time "Jennifer…"

She took her gaze off her two close friends to look at the Killian "Yuri…What are you doing here?"

"I'm came to you to apologize for what I've done…I'm so sorry for trying to take your happiness away from you and tried to change it. I just wanted to make a Kaleido Stage where you or any other performer wouldn't get hurt or possibly killed, a stage where everyone is safe from harm…I've realized all the things I've done were wrong and it really didn't bring happiness to anyone especially to you…Can you ever forgive me?"

Jennifer couldn't help but stare at him in shock but it soon wore off and she gave him a smile "I think you already know this by now that I'm not one to hold grudges…And what you said right now means a whole lot to me…I forgive you Yuri…."

The Killian smiled in relief, Jennifer then walked over to him and gently kissed him on the cheek. Once pulling back she looked at Yuri straight in the eye "Besides…You were only doing what you thought was right."

Yuri lightly blushed at the sudden kiss he was given but then smiled "You…You don't mind me staying here with you to watch Layla and Sora pull off this maneuver?"

"Not at all…"

With Layla and Sora, both of the girls grabbed their and readied themselves for the maneuver. Just before they could do anything Fool floated up right in the middle and held up a fortune card "The final card is the Fool, foretelling almost all the unlimited possibilities. The door to great things will open for those foolish enough not to be afraid."

After his declaration both Sora and Layla jumped off their platforms and began swinging up high. Everyone watched on feeling anxious and nervous for the partners, soon Layla and Sora launched themselves from their swings, heading towards the other. The two soon clasped hands hard and the most amazing thing happened.

Slowly the two began to ascend the sky, hands still clasped together slowly twirling around, gold stars began emitting from the two. The whole audience watched in awe as this happened, Jennifer smiled and tears of joy began running down her face "They did! They're really flying!"

"Amazing…And I thought I had the power to stand in the way of this…" admitted Yuri

Up there with Layla and Sora, the Hamilton took notice of her surroundings and said "Sora! It's time to go back!"

"Right!"

"It looks like the wind is pushing the swings a little further out, we'll have to push harder!"

"I'm ready!"

"One…Two…Three!"

The partners pushed hard against their hands and launched themselves back to their swings, unfortunately the force of the push made Layla cried out in pain. Though to everyone's relief the girls made it to their swings safely. Once back on their platforms, Layla was panting heavily and said to herself in relief "It's…It's over now…"

Soon the lights went off and immediately Layla leaned against the pillar, gripping her shoulder in pain. Down below in the audience, one by one people began standing up and started clapping for them. The clapping soon turned into roars of happiness which made Layla smile at this "How strange…It still feels like I'm flying…"

The pillars then began descending back down, Jennifer soon happen to notice Layla's condition and immediately left Yuri's side "Excuse me Yuri, I need to go check on Layla!"

Underneath the stage Layla got off the platform still gripping her shoulder, she didn't even notice her best friend quickly approaching her "Layla!"

The Hamilton looked up and smiled at her "Jennifer…"

The Harrington stopped in front of her best friend "Your shoulder…"

"Don't worry I'll be fine…"

"You and Sora were amazing up there…It brought tears to my eyes."

"You don't say?"

"Layla…Jennifer…"

The two women turned around and were completely surprised to find Mr. Hamilton standing a few feet in front of them.

"Father?" wondered Layla

"That was a wonderful show!" told Mr. Hamilton

This made the two women gasp in surprise "You were watching?"

Mr. Hamilton gave a nod "Yes…And now I understand what Yuri meant…"

The two best friends looked at each other then back at Mr. Hamilton "Yuri?"

He smiled at the two "You two really can fly and you don't need my help to do it, the two of you have become remarkably, strong young women Layla…Jennifer…"

"Father thank you!" said Layla, feeling tremendously happy at what Mr. Hamilton said who then noticed how his daughter was gripping her shoulder.

"Did you hurt your shoulder up there?"

"Yeah…"

"Is it bad?"

"I think it is…There's no way I'll be able to perform at Kaleido Stage again…"

"What?"

Layla, Jennifer and Mr. Hamilton looked to find Sora standing there with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Do you really mean that Layla?" asked Sora

Layla hesitated for a bit then answered "Yes I do…"

"It can't…It can't be…"

"Kate told me and Jennifer this would probably happen…But I had to do this…We've achieved the impossible and got the best applause…But if this has to be my last show ever I couldn't have wished for a better performance…Or a better partner…"

Tears filled Sora's eyes which soon began falling down her face "But you can't…I….It can't be!"

The Japanese girl soon ran off crying, having Layla and Jennifer call after her "Sora!"

The two women quickly followed after the heartbroken girl, they soon found her leaning against the wall crying out her sorrow.

"Sora…" called Layla

The Japanese girl just only shook her head and kept crying.

"Sora you have to be strong." Told Jennifer

"But I can't, I can't!" exclaimed Sora

"When I decided to attempt the legendary great maneuver with you I knew there would be a price but I was willing to try this with you no matter what the risk might be! Sora…Today before the show you told me you never doubted you'd be able to perform the maneuver. I need you to have that kind of faith now, you need to stand up Sora!" said Layla

Slowly Sora's cries quieted and she slowly stood up straight, making Layla smile a bit "Sora…I want you to be my dream."

The Japanese girl looked at her idol with tears still in her eyes, not believing what she said. The Hamilton's smile grew as she looked at her partner "I'm putting all my faith in you Sora."

Sora wiped away her tears and once they were gone she asked "You want me to be your dream Layla?"

"I do."

Jennifer grabbed her friend's other shoulder while smiling at Sora "Actually we do, I want you to be my dream too Sora. Because we know that you have what it takes to be a true Kaleido star."

"A true Kaleido star…."

Weeks have since that day, Jennifer left with Layla to make sure everything was working out all right with her best friend. This left Sora to deal with the upcoming production at Kaleido stage and is currently doing a dress rehearsal of the production.

"Sora!" called Ken

"Hurry up Sora!" said Mia

"Hey Sora!" exclaimed Anna

All dressed up in her costume, the Japanese girl gave a smile and began running towards the stage "Coming!"

While running there Sora happily thought to herself "Layla, Jennifer I'm gonna become a true Kaleido star no matter what it takes! I will, I will!"

And being the little klutz she is, Sora tripped and fell to the floor letting out an embarrassing giggle "Oh! Hehe…Looks I still got a long way to go!"


End file.
